


Under the Blanket of Stars

by souzu



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Ambiguous Relationships, Background Relationships, Coming of Age, Emotional Constipation, Inspired by You're the Apple of My Eye, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan-centric, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love, minor xiaoren, renhyuck as the main focus but they don't end up together :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 36,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27587132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/souzu/pseuds/souzu
Summary: "Do you think there's a parallel universe out there?" Donghyuck asks, breaking the silence. He looks over to Renjun, just in time to see him scrunch up his face in thought. "A different reality that exists at the same time as us."After a few seconds, Renjun faces him and raises an eyebrow. "What's up with the sudden question?"
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 13
Kudos: 53
Collections: '00 FIC FEST ROUND TWO





	1. one.

**Author's Note:**

> Before we get started, I'd like to apologise once more for the misuse of tags. I've fixed them up now and I hope they correlate to the fic more than the last one. That being said, please read the tags and exit out if you do not like unrequited love fics. Thank you.
> 
> For Prompt #00387

Despite everybody’s excitement, Donghyuck doesn’t care about the new transfer student. 

He sits with YangYang at the back of the class, laughing at some sort of new manga the latter bought earlier that day. It’s against the school rules to have such books in the classroom during school hours, but when has Donghyuck ever cared about school rules? He’s been climbing all over tables and chairs and ditching afterschool clean-up duty ever since he was seven. He _definitely_ does not give two shits about school rules.

It’s not that he’s a bad student, per se, it’s more of the fact that he doesn’t see any point in trying. It’s just high school, a small point in his life. When he’s finally out there, he’s one hundred percent sure that no one will ask about his grades or the extracurricular activities he did when he was seventeen. Those just don’t matter in the real world. As long as you’re charming and good with words, you will be able to come on top.

And Donghyuck likes to think he’s charming and good with words.

His teacher walks into the classroom and tells him and YangYang off almost immediately. How she saw through the thick dictionary wall YangYang made to block the view of the manga from the front of the class, Donghyuck will never know. 

She clearly isn’t in a good mood, and upon seeing the two of them crowded behind a wall of dictionaries and snickering, she makes Donghyuck switch seats with Quanzhe, moving him from the back row to somewhere around the middle. Donghyuck thinks it’s a bit dumb. After all, he’s one, if not _the most_ , popular kid in class. He has friends everywhere and moving to another desk definitely wouldn’t shut him up. He’s sure his teacher will realise it soon enough _,_ but he’s still offended over how she thinks it’s _that_ easy to do so. 

Donghyuck doesn’t care about the new student, but he hates all the comments and rumors his classmates are starting to murmur under their breaths once the said student walks through the door. Some of them seem believable, others are dumb, but Donghyuck still wants none of that.

His first impression of Renjun will forever be engraved in his head. The new transfer student walks into the classroom with his chin slightly in the air, shoulders back, and arms loosely by his sides. His gaze is up, straight and focused, and he had a small, subtle, natural smile that reached his eyes. 

His eyes held the stars. That is Donghyuck’s first thought after they meet eyes by accident. 

He had walked in with such confidence, such certainty, that Donghyuck couldn’t help but feel a bit intimidated and jealous. Not only does he tick off all the boxes that Donghyuck made to be categorised in his ‘ _charming and good with words_ ’ group (Donghyuck is currently the only person in said group), he’s also _very_ attractive.

He doesn’t need to turn around to see Jaemin’s heart eyes towards the new boy. 

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Donghyuck realises he’s _exactly_ Jaemin’s type. Donghyuck lets out a small smile as he ducks his head down. Maybe he could help Jaemin out, it’s been too long since his last relationship anyway. It feels a bit weird not listening to Jaemin go on and on about how cute his significant other is.

The transfer student stands in front of the class, eyes crinkled into little crescents. “Nice to meet you all,” he greets. “My name is Huang Renjun.”

His voice is strangely melodic, a bit unexpected, and smooth. Donghyuck thinks he could fall asleep listening to him talk about the most random of things. It’s nice, though. Donghyuck won’t lie about that, those with good voices are said to be successful in the future _—_ or so he was told. 

The teacher shuffles around the seating placements and the transfer student ends up behind Donghyuck. Convenient for him, not so much for Renjun. Renjun seems like the smart type; someone who studies a lot and aims for top universities _—_ so it should be a breeze to buy answers off him, if he’s easily swayed by money.

Everyone’s easily swayed by money, Donghyuck learns that extremely early on in his life. It’s not a bad thing, not in his eyes, but he does wish he didn’t have to learn so much about trading and whatever else at age thirteen or something. To be honest, he doesn’t even remember half the things he was taught. It shouldn’t matter in the future anyway. 

The bell chimes, signaling the end of class and the start of lunch. The moment Donghyuck puts his books away underneath his table and takes out his small, blue bento box, he’s being dragged out the door by Jaemin. 

“Hey, dude! What the hell?!” he snaps, pulling his arm away once they’re outside. “I’m trying to eat here. I’ve been craving these rice balls all day.” Donghyuck spots an empty bench and quickly walks towards it, leaving Jaemin in dust.

Jaemin apologises, but he doesn’t even _try_ to sound sorry. They settle down onto the bench and Donghyuck rolls his eyes and stuffs a rice ball into his mouth. He already knows what Jaemin is gonna talk about for the hour or so. So as soon as the latter opens his mouth, Donghyuck makes the conscious decision to block out his voice. He occasionally nods to make it seem like he’s listening, even though Jaemin can probably see right through him.

With eyes boring into Jaemin’s forehead, he pokes around his bento box with his chopsticks only to find out he’s finished his lunch. With a frown, he puts away his chopsticks, wishing he had savoured the rice balls instead of mindlessly eating them to drown out Jaemin’s voice. 

He tunes into Jaemin’s ranting, unwillingly, as he closes his bento box.

“ _—_ he seems like he’s responsible, I wonder if he’ll make a good husband or dad.”

Donghyuck shoots a concerned look towards Jaemin. He definitely chose the wrong time to tune into the rant. 

“Don’t you think you’re a bit too young to think about marriage?” Donghyuck asks, raising an eyebrow. 

Jaemin turns red and looks at him up and down. “I didn’t think you were listening,” he mumbles. “Ah, this is kinda embarrassing.” He hides his face behind his hands.

Donghyuck scoffs. “What are you embarrassed about? I can assure you that you’ve said worse things directly in my face before.” He furrows his eyebrows. “I don’t even want to think about them.”

Jaemin sticks out his bottom lip.“That’s true,” he says. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“What do you think about Renjun? Don’t you think he’s super cute?” 

Donghyuck thinks about his next words carefully. “I mean, he _is_ attractive. I like his voice too. That’s about it though.” Across from him, Jaemin pouts. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” Donghyuck sighs, running a hand through his hair. “He seems like he’d get 100% on exams? I don’t know, dude.”

Jaemin bites the inside of his cheek. “It’s like love at first sight for me,” he whispers. “I’m in love.”

Donghyuck strains a smile. “Yeah, sorry but you say that about all the crushes you have. I have a feeling this crush of yours will be gone in, like, two months.”

Jaemin raises both his eyebrows. “Bet?”

“Bet.”  
  


* * *

  
Needless to say, Donghyuck lost the bet. His pride, dignity, and 1,000 yuan are all gone all because Renjun decided to lend Jaemin a pencil one day.

A pencil and a quiet ‘ _keep it_ ’ was all it took to get Jaemin head over heels for the boy. Donghyuck blames Jaemin’s mom for taking out his pencil case from his bag a day before their English test, because now he’s stuck with Jaemin _constantly_ talking about Renjun.

“How are you so ‘in love’ with him when you’ve never even had a conversation with him,” Jeno asks, peering at Jaemin from above his manga.

“Stop reading, we’re here to study.” Jaemin shoots him a glare. “And I _have_ had a conversation with him before, thank you very much. Why else would I have this cute pencil if I didn’t?” He digs around his pencil case to bring out said pencil.

YangYang, thankfully, stops him. “We know which one it is, we’ve seen and heard it enough times, please stop talking about it.”

They’re sitting in the local food shop Jeno’s family owns, with their textbooks and notebooks open for the first time since forever. Mid-year exams are coming up, and despite being the troublemakers in the class, the group had collectively decided to study for once _—_ because it’d be ‘ _their last mid-year exams_ ’, or so YangYang says. 

“You should study,” YangYang says to Donghyuck, twirling his pencil between his fingers. “We’re graduating this year. You should get into the habit of it.”

Donghyuck’s side of the table is clear, with no books in sight. He glances over at YangYang’s open book. “Yeah, and all you’ve done is question 2a, you’re no different than me,” he taunts. 

YangYang opens his mouth to bite back but is interrupted by Jeno’s mom placing four bowls of braised pork rice down. A chorus of ‘ _thank you auntie_ ’ travels around the table.

“It’s so nice to see you boys studying so hard,” she says, ruffling Jaemin’s hair. “I haven’t seen Jeno study since he was eleven!” She leans over and plucks the manga out of Jeno’s hands. “I’ll leave you boys to it then!” She beams a smile and takes the empty glasses, then disappears into the kitchen. 

“My manga…” Jeno pouts.

“I told you to stop reading,” Jaemin scolds as he smacks the top of the older one’s head with his rolled-up notebook. “You’re so dumb, why didn’t you put it away the moment you saw your mom?”

Jeno shrugs. “I mean, now I can actually concentrate, I guess.” He sighs and picks up his pencil. “YangYang, what did you get for 4c?”

“I haven’t done it yet,” YangYang groans. “I can barely do question two. I hate this. Who suggested this?” He scans each one of their faces. “We all know this wouldn’t work, how did we agree to this?”

“Donghyuck suggested it,” Jaemin says, putting a spoonful of rice into his mouth. “And he doesn’t even have his books open. What a scam.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Donghyuck comments, pointing his chopsticks at him. “It’s rude.”

YangYang pushes the chopsticks down. “And it’s rude to point your chopsticks at people.” He copies the same tone of voice Donghyuck had used. 

Donghyuck stares at him and silence ensues between the group.

Jeno lightly slams his textbook onto the table and they all turn to him. 

“If we’re not gonna study can you guys please leave? I mean that in the nicest way possible, but it’s just that my mom might come in randomly and I don’t want her to think that I’m fooling around with you guys instead of studying.”

“Your mom loves us,” Jaemin says. “And you barely study, what are you on about?”

Jeno sighs. “Yeah, but she’s getting on my ass ‘cause it’s our last year. She also suggested getting into uni overseas, and to be honest, I’m kinda considering it.” 

This is Donghyuck’s first time hearing about this, and from the looks on YangYang and Jaemin’s faces, it’s theirs too.

“Overseas?!” YangYang looks as if he had been splashed by cold water. “How long have you been thinking about this? Why haven’t we been told?!”

Jeno takes a deep breath. “It’s not a definite choice yet, I’m still considering it.” He drums his fingers on the table. “It’s just that I’ve kinda gone through my high school life without a clear direction or path I wanna follow in the future, and I think it _just_ occurred to me that I’m graduating this year and I guess I’m kinda worried? I don’t know.”

Donghyuck wants to sympathise with him, he really does, but he finds himself unable to do so. He’s never had those kinds of thoughts before, thoughts such as worrying about your future and path and career, it’s just such a foreign concept to him. 

He wonders if that’s the reason he doesn’t try in school.

Once he finishes his bowl of rice, he picks up his bag off the floor. “Alright,” he says. “I’ll get going then. Good luck on studying.” He sends Jeno a small smile, the latter reciprocates.

After saying a quick thank you to Jeno’s parents for the meal, he scampers out the door before Jaemin can catch up to him and give another hour long speech about how soft Renjun’s hair looks.  
  


* * *

  
“Bro, if Jaemin talks about Renjun one more time, I think I’ll cry,” YangYang says to the sun-kissed boy the next day. “When you left, I _tried_ to study, but he just kept going on and on about Renjun’s cute notes or whatever. I think I would’ve thrown something at him if Jeno wasn’t there.” 

Donghyuck turns around to face the younger boy, but instead, his vision focuses on something going on _outside_ the classroom. “Hey, is that _—_ ” He squints his eyes.

YangYang, confused, follows his line of vision.

“Oh my gosh, what is he doing?!”

On the other side of the windows are Jaemin and, surprisingly, Renjun. Jaemin is saying something to Renjun, while the shorter one is slowly nodding with furrowed eyebrows.

“When did he get the guts to talk to him?” YangYang says, voice barely above a whisper. “He’s been admiring from afar for two and a half months. This came straight out of nowhere!”

Jeno creeps up from behind them. “What are you guys looking at?” 

YangYang whips his head around. “Jaemin is talking to Renjun!” 

Jeno furrows his eyebrows. “Jaemin? Like Na Jaemin? Our Jaemin?”

“Yes, OUR Jaemin!”

Jeno pauses. “Ah, he _did_ say he’s gonna do something about his feelings yesterday, after the two of you guys left.”

Donghyuck almost chokes. “Is he _confessing_?!”

Jeno’s eyes grow wide. “No, no way. He’s not that kinda person, I don’t think, but he might be trying to befriend him?”

YangYang whistles. “Very brave, potential friendzone there.”

“Yeah, but I think it’s better to get friendzoned than strangerzoned, if that’s a thing,” Jeno chuckles. “Gotta give it to him though, I thought he was joking yesterday.”

Donghyuck clicks his tongue. “We all know Jaemin doesn’t joke around, that boy has zero impulse control.”

They continue to spy on the duo before a certain brunette quickly pulls Renjun away.

“Hey, hey!” YangYang frantically yells. “What’s he doing?!”

Donghyuck thinks YangYang might be a little _too_ invested in whatever’s going on between Jaemin and Renjun. 

“Okay, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go chase down Chenle.” YangYang rushes out the door before Donghyuck or Jeno could say a thing. 

“Poor Chenle,” is all Jeno says before he returns back to his desk. 

Zhong Chenle, the class’ top scorer in basically every subject. In other words, the complete opposite of the person Donghyuck is. He’s smart, hardworking, and rumors have it that he studies _every single day_. Chenle was the first one to befriend Renjun out of the whole class, which is probably the reason Renjun hangs around him the most. Actually, Donghyuck kind of sees it now; Renjun is also smart and hardworking, and he’s pretty sure he’d study every single day too if he could. They kinda make a good match in Donghyuck’s eyes.

Not as lovers, but as best friends. Donghyuck’s rooting for Jaemin, even though he’s irritated by his ramblings half the time. 

Jaemin walks into the classroom, and Donghyuck instinctively raises his hand up for a high-five.

“What were you guys talking about?” Donghyuck asks. Jaemin doesn’t look upset or disappointed, so Donghyuck’s guessing Renjun _didn’t_ reject him. Or maybe Jaemin just didn’t spill out his two month long hidden feelings to him. Maybe they talked about studying together, Jaemin’s unpredictable that way.

Jaemin’s hand comes into contact with Donghyuck’s. “Not much, I just told him I think he’s cute and would like to go out with him.”

“What?!” Donghyuck chokes. “All of a sudden? What did he say?! Why?!”

Jaemin shrugs, unfazed. “Listening to Jeno’s speech about his future or whatever got me thinking, you know?” He leans back on the desk behind him. “Thought I could make my life more interesting with a significant other.”

“So you’re _using_ Renjun to…” The word is on the tip of Donghyuck’s tongue. He clicks his fingers as he digs through his brain, but to no avail, so he simply gives up. “You’re using Renjun?” 

Jaemin playfully slaps him. “No! You know my vocabulary is tiny, don’t twist my words.” He pauses and purses his lips. “I don’t know, I just felt the sudden urge to ask him out, I guess.”

Jaemin’s the only person in their friend group who says such a thing so casually, a natural flirt _—_ so to say. 

“Well, did he agree? Did he punch you? What did he do?” Donghyuck asks as he scans his friend’s face.

There’s no trace of embarrassment or discomfort, which is surprising given that he had just _confessed_ to the ‘love of his life’. If Donghyuck didn’t know better, he’d believe that Jaemin’s just faking his feelings for Renjun. After all, who confesses to someone then looks perfectly fine and sane straight after?

He’s read somewhere that if a person’s smooth around the person they like, then it’s probably not worth accepting them, as people get nervous around the people they like. 

Donghyuck, can sadly, vouch for that. He vaguely remembers having a crush on some model student a few years back and whenever he was put into a group project with them, he’d always end up with shaky legs and sweaty palms. 

He would not do it again, would not recommend either. He rates that experience a 3/10.

“He didn’t say anything,” Jaemin sighs. “He couldn’t, actually. Chenle came and took him away in a blink of an eye.” He straightens out his tie. “I’ll probably catch him after school, or something, so you guys don’t have to wait for me to walk home.” His hands clasp together and he lets them fall.

After practically eating, studying, and playing with someone for more than five years, you’d start to pick up their little habits. One of Jaemin’s is that he can’t sit still when he’s nervous. Donghyuck smiles to himself as he spots Jaemin’s left leg bouncing continuously. Guess he’s worried for nothing, Jaemin’s _definitely_ nervous, he just doesn’t show it on his face. 

Donghyuck gets up from his chair and pats Jaemin on the shoulder. “Don’t be worried, if anything, you still got us.” 

Jaemin makes a questionable face at that comment and quickly opens his mouth to say something, but Donghyuck swiftly exits the classroom to scout for YangYang before he does something stupid that can potentially ruin his image for the last seven months of highschool.  
  


* * *

  
It’s from YangYang that Donghyuck learns that Jaemin was just shitting with him. 

That brat wasn’t _confessing_ , he was just asking for Renjun’s English and maths notes. 

Donghyuck had never felt more inclined to punch Jaemin in the face, but since he’s all the way back in the classroom, Donghyuck punches the next best thing; YangYang. He had felt bad for a split second, but then remembered all the other times the younger had tormented him, and suddenly didn’t feel as bad anymore.

In the end, he had mistook Jaemin’s excitement of ‘pranking’ him as being nervous. Can’t say he didn’t expect it though, to be fair, Donghyuck _did_ have his doubts, he didn’t just blindly believe him. 

Now he’s not gonna believe another word that comes out of Jaemin’s mouth, and Jaemin brought that upon himself.

“I can’t believe him,” Donghyuck puffs as the duo walk back to their classroom. YangYang is _still_ stifling his laughter beside him and Donghyuck might just reach over and smack the back of his head. “Stop laughing, it’s not that funny.”

“No, it’s funny because you _believed_ him!” YangYang bursts out laughing for the second time. “You out of all people should know better than to trust Jaemin!”

Donghyuck considers leaping off the building. He knows YangYang will never let him live this down. It’s not even that funny, and the whole reason why Donghyuck is embarrassed is because YangYang is making it a bigger deal than it seems.

“You have a horrible sense of humor,” Donghyuck mumbles. 

YangYang’s laughter dies down. “I’m so glad I’m not like you,” he taunts and Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “I pulled back Renjun to ask what they were talking about. You should’ve seen the look on his face! He was so confused, it was hilarious! He was like; ‘Ah, he asked for my notes. Tell him I’ll give it to him after school’ or something and Chenle was beside him going on and on about how he didn’t like us _right in front of my face_ ,” YangYang sharply breathes in before continuing. “That Chenle _—_ ” He shakes his head. “Just because he’s a year younger than us and gets high marks in everything doesn’t mean he’s the shit. I bet he hasn’t even had his first kiss yet.”

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had so much pent up anger towards him, you need to find a way to externalise all that. It’s not good for you otherwise.” He pauses. “And you haven’t had your first kiss either.” He looks at YangYang. “Way to make a comparison.”

The younger brushes him off. “Yeah, yeah. At least _I_ didn’t blindly believe Na Jaemin!” He leaves Donghyuck’s side and runs ahead before the latter can grab onto the back of his shirt and give him another beating. 

Donghyuck, who wakes up every morning and double knots his shoes _just_ for this moment, darts after him. 

He almost loses a head when he makes a sharp turn into their classroom.   
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck has never seen such neat notes in his life. Donghyuck’s handwriting, for one, looks like chicken scratch and even though he’s the one writing the notes, sometimes even _he_ has trouble making sense of whatever he wrote.

Renjun’s notes look like heaven compared to his hellish one. There’s so much _colour_. Who even has that many different coloured pens and highlighters in their pencil case. Heck, all Donghyuck uses is a gray lead pencil. He doesn’t even carry around a pencil case _—_ he puts his pencils in his pockets and takes them out when needed.

“It’s like I’m looking at a rainbow,” Jeno says, peering over Jaemin’s shoulder. “He has such neat handwriting too. Donghyuck could never.”

The next thing Donghyuck finds himself doing is holding Jeno in a chokehold. “Say that again, I dare you.”

YangYang appears behind him immediately and rubs his hands all over Donghyuck’s face in an attempt to free Jeno. “To be fair,” he says, struggling to hold down a squirming Donghyuck. “He’s not wrong.”

Donghyuck releases Jeno from his grasp and switches his target to YangYang. “Did you even wash your hands?! Who knows what you’ve touched!” he screams as he lunges for the Taiwanese. 

YangYang lets out a scream as Donghyuck dives towards him and the two collapse onto the ground, hands all over each other, and grass and mud smearing all over their white uniforms.

Jeno rushes to break the two up. “Your parents are gonna yell at you the moment they see your dirty uniforms.” He pulls YangYang up. “You two are literal children.”

Still on the floor, Donghyuck throws his messenger bag filled with books right at him. “Why don’t you help me up, huh?” He huffs. “Some friend you are.”  
  
Jeno picks the lone bag off the floor. “Because I don’t like you,” he says with a hint of amusement in his voice. “Also, that really hurt. What’s in this bag? You don’t even study, why would you carry books.” He opens up the bag to inspect it.

Donghyuck flies to snatch his school bag out of his friend’s hands. “Have you never heard of privacy?!” His eyes flash with warning. “I hope your sister leaves the door open when she exits your room next time.”

Jeno places a hand over his left chest and falls to the ground, being dramatic as always. “Oh no,” he cries, holding his hands up in the air. “Such a horrible curse placed upon me!”

Jaemin walks up to them slowly, eyes still glued to the notebook. 

“What is he looking so intensely at those notes for?” YangYang whispers to Jeno beside him.

“Maybe he’s looking for some kind of sign that Renjun might return his feelings?” Jeno shrugs. “Who knows at this point.”

Donghyuck, who decides to get back at Jaemin for the stunt he pulled this morning, snatches Renjun’s notebook out of the lovesick boy’s hands. 

Jaemin’s head snaps up immediately and Donghyuck swears he has never seen Jaemin move so fast in his life. In a blink of an eye, the notebook is gone from between his fingers and back safely in Jaemin’s arm. He holds the notebook close to his chest, cradling it almost, and glares at Donghyuck.

“Renjun said that if his notes change in condition at all, he’ll never talk to me again.”

Jeno places a hand on Jaemin’s head. “Guess it's a big deal then,” he laughs. 

YangYang slings an arm over Donghyuck’s shoulder and Donghyuck almost loses his balance. “You’re so heavy,” he comments after regaining his footing. “Have you been eating a lot more?"  
  
YangYang nods happily, and Donghyuck smiles. YangYang reminds him of a puppy sometimes, always energetic and ready to play. He’s the only one who actively keeps up with Donghyuck’s antics, after all. Jeno’s always trying to stop him and Jaemin can never be bothered to join in, so YangYang is dubbed his ‘Partner-in-Crime’ by default. Can’t say Donghyuck doesn’t like it though, both he and YangYang had grown quite attached to the unofficial title, both having ‘ _Partner in Crime_ _♡_ ’ as each other’s contact names on their phones. 

“Did he just leave you with his notebook?” Jeno asks. “I thought he’d at least, like, offer to tutor you or something.” 

Jaemin hesitates. “Yeah, I kinda wished he did.” He lets out an airy chuckle. “But nah, he said he had to quickly rush somewhere. Chenle was with him too, telling him that he’d be late for an interview or something if he didn’t move his ass.”

Jeno ponders for a second. “Do you think he has a job? A part-time job, maybe?”

Donghyuck’s ears perk up. 

“A part-time job?” he asks. “Who even works at this age? Isn’t he too young? Where are his parents?”

It’s a bit uncommon to be working during high school, as most parents would prefer their children to focus on their studies, Donghyuck’s friend group included. He had thought that everyone in his class was pretty well off so there was no need to rush into hard labor so quickly. After all, you have the entirety of your life _after_ school to work and suffer, why bring that pain to you in advance? 

He wonders if Chenle has a job too. That’d be pretty surprising. Juggling both studies and work? Donghyuck might have to bow to him with respect next time he sees him in the hallways.

“Maybe he’s poor?” YangYang pipes up out of nowhere.

Jeno slaps YangYang’s upper arm. “You can’t just call someone poor, you know.”

The youngest rubs the area where Jeno had hit him. The skin is already turning reddish-pink. “Why are you so aggressive all the time?” he whines. “I’m just saying.”

Donghyuck cuts into their conversation, knowing full well what Jeno would say. “It's rude to say things like that,” he scolds, his cold fingers gripping onto the back of YangYang’s neck.

YangYang, who jumps at Donghyuck’s cold touch, quickly realises his mistakes and fumbles out a string of apologises to _Jaemin_ , as if he’s here on behalf of Renjun. 

“I don’t think he’s wrong though?” Jaemin says, tilting his head to the side.

“When will you guys stop talking about other people’s financial status,” Jeno sighs. “And Renjun might not even be ‘poor’. You guys are just a lot better off than me _—_ ” He stumbles across his words as he draws a circle pointing to himself. “ _Us_ , actually. Not everyone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth.”

Donghyuck concludes that this conversation has nothing to do with him so he turns away and decides to keep his mouth shut. 

“Yah, Lee Donghyuck! Stop acting like you’re not guilty either!” Jeno’s voice comes barging in.

“Since when have I commented on someone else’s financial status?” Donghyuck challenges, crossing his arms.

“You’ve commented on mine!”  
  
“Well, obviously. You’re my friend!”  
  


* * *

  
Renjun is in some deep shit right now, from what Donghyuck can sense in the room.

He rests his head in his arms. The energy coming from the front of the classroom is kind of making him uncomfortable, to say the least, and he does _not_ want to mess around at a time like this. He glances over to YangYang, who’s sitting two desks beside him, and the younger just sends a shrug his way. He looks a bit scared, which normally Donghyuck would laugh about, but this time _—_ even _he’s_ feeling a bit nervous. 

Their teacher slams her open palm down on her desk and Donghyuck swears he saw YangYang jump from the corner of his eye. 

Donghyuck has never seen their teacher look this heated before, and with the stunts Donghyuck and YangYang pull 24/7, that’s definitely saying something.

“Who’s our Class Leader?!” their teacher snaps. 

It’s silent. 

Donghyuck wants to turn around to check up on Renjun, but knows that it’ll draw too much attention to himself, so he decides against it. He continues to rest his head between his arms, but peeks up a bit to study his teacher’s face. 

They make eye contact and Donghyuck immediately ducks his head back down.

“I asked, who’s our Class Leader?!” she repeats.

A heavy atmosphere fills up the room, with occasional shuffling from the uncomfortable students, Donghyuck included. 

“Huang Renjun!” she snaps.

From behind Donghyuck, Renjun stands up immediately. His chair makes a horrid sound as it scrapes against the floor. It’s hushed, all around, and Donghyuck twists his body around to take a look at Renjun.

Renjun’s head is hanging low, his gaze does not meet anyone’s.

“Huang Renjun, what do you have to say for yourself?!”

Upon closer inspection, Donghyuck realises that Renjun’s hand is slightly shaking. No, his _entire_ body seems like it’s trembling. His face is pale and he swallows hard.

It must be his first time getting into trouble, Donghyuck thinks. Why else would he look so shaken up after getting ‘yelled’ at. For Donghyuck and his group of friends, it’s kind of a common thing to get scolded every fortnight or so. 

“The envelope, where is it?!”

Their teacher is just about screaming now. Maybe if Donghyuck complains to his dad enough, he’ll be able to do something about her. She can’t even teach English properly anyway.

Renjun opens his mouth after staying silent for so long. “I don’t know,” he says quietly, voice trembling. “I placed it underneath my desk but it’s not—”

“That’s 6,000 yuan, Renjun! You can’t just lose 6,000 yuan!”  
  
Donghyuck’s eyes widen at the reveal of the number. It’s not a lot to _him_ exactly, but he had caught Jeno’s face at the back of the classroom and the latter had immediately paled at the sound of the number. 

“Huang Renjun! If you do not find it, you’ll be forced to pay everything out of pocket!”

Renjun’s face turns from pale to plain out white, as if all blood had been drained from his face. Donghyuck may not be the most book smart person ever, but he’s pretty good at reading people if he says so himself. To be honest, it really doesn’t take a genius to know that Renjun’s panicking.

Donghyuck thinks back to the conversation he had with Jaemin last week. 

_Jaemin hesitates. “Yeah, I kinda wished he did.” He lets out an airy chuckle. “But nah, he said he had to quickly rush somewhere. Chenle was with him too, telling him that he’d be late for an interview or something if he didn’t move his ass.”_

_Jeno ponders for a second. “Do you think he has a job? A part time job, maybe?”_

_Donghyuck’s ears perk up._

_“A part time job?” he asks. “Who even works at this age? Isn’t he too young? Where are his parents?”_

_“Maybe he’s poor?” YangYang pipes out of nowhere._

_Jeno slaps YangYang’s upper arm. “You can’t just call someone poor, you know.”_

If Renjun _is_ facing any sort of financial difficulties, this 6,000 yuan thing will most definitely leave a dent in his wallet. Something that Donghyuck believes Renjun cannot afford to have.

Donghyuck isn’t normally one to do anything related to charitable purposes, so he blames Jaemin’s enamored feelings towards Renjun for this. Donghyuck must be rubbing it off him. 

He contemplates for a second, before raising one of his arms and slamming the other onto Renjun’s desk behind him. 

The entire class stares at him.

“Um,” he starts. “I think I might have taken the 6,000 yuan by accident?”

Their teacher’s face is starting to become red and Donghyuck doesn’t think it does her any justice. Before he could make a comment on how she should probably calm down and that her blood pressure may be a little bit high right now, she starts screaming at him.

“How do you accidentally take 6,000 yuan?!” 

She’s so loud that Donghyuck swears the other classes can hear her. 

“I thought it was mine.” He shrugs. It’s obviously a lie because Donghyuck does _not_ carry his money in an envelope, but their teacher’s most likely not in the right mind as of this moment and will probably believe whatever bullshit Donghyuck spews out from his mouth.

“I’ll pay it back by tomorrow,” he continues. “It’s not Renjun’s fault. Don’t punish him.”

Renjun makes some kind of noise behind him. Quiet enough for Donghyuck to hear, but not loud enough for the rest of the class to notice.

"Lee Donghyuck, that is unacceptable behavior! You shouldn't just take 6,000 yuan because you feel like it!"

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. "I already said I'll pay it back tomorrow, calm down."

Their teacher's eyes flare up. "Do _not_ talk back to me," she seethes. "Go, run ten laps around the oval. Right now."

Donghyuck doesn't move in his seat. He's not gonna make some kind of teacher force him to do physical exercise. If anything, she should just burn—

"Now!" She screams, and it's the first time Donghyuck has ever heard her raise her voice like this.

Biting back on his tongue, he slowly removes himself from his chair.

"Faster!" she barks. "Don't even think about coming back until you've finished all ten laps."

Donghyuck scoffs loudly, all this because _someone_ had decided to misplace 6,000 yuan. As he exits the classroom, he locks eyes with Jaemin.

Jaemin is looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. Donghyuck can't blame him, after all, he _himself_ is also surprised at whatever he just did.

"Lee Donghyuck! Move it!"

Donghyuck lets out an exasperated sigh and exits the classroom.

He tries to reassure himself by saying how ten laps wouldn't be that tiring. The oval doesn't even look that big, from where Donghyuck is standing three-story high up, at least.

Both Jaemin _and_ Renjun owe him big time for this.

He exhales harshly as he begins to descend down the stairs.  
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck’s entire body aches, even in places where he didn’t know could. Those ten laps were draining, and Donghyuck doesn’t feel like moving again for the rest of his life. Never has he ran so much before.

He didn't even bother going back to class after his ten laps, and instead just sat outside the library and re-read the manga he had stolen from YangYang the night before. There’s no way he was going back into the classroom to deal with that she-devil all over again. She doesn't like him, he doesn't like her; both parties are happy if they don't see each other.

So Donghyuck decides to do her a favour by not showing up to the rest of the classes. 

It’s peaceful, being alone. He hasn’t really had time to himself for a while now as he’s always around YangYang or Jaemin or Jeno.

The bell signals the end of the day, and Donghyuck drags himself off the floor, getting ready to meet the rest of his friends at the front of the school.

He’s stopped by a familiar voice behind him. 

“Hey.”

Donghyuck tightly holds onto the strap of his bag.

“What can I do for you?” he asks, swiftly turning around. 

Now _this_ is the first time he’s ever interacted with Renjun. Surprisingly, given that he’s one of Jaemin’s closest friends.

Renjun stands before him, nervously fidgeting.

“I just wanted to thank you for today,” he says, not meeting Donghyuck’s eyes. “You really didn’t have to—”

“It’s nothing, I have the money to spare anyway,” Donghyuck quickly cuts him off. “Don’t worry about paying me back or whatever.”

“I’m not letting you waste money on some random classmate you’ve never talked to in your life.”

Donghyuck wants to leave. He really isn’t in the mood to have an argument he’d probably lose. “I already said, it’s completely okay. I have the money. Focus on yourself for once, maybe,” he snaps. “Don’t you have a part-time job, anyway? You can’t afford to pay up 6,000 yuan.”

Renjun stares at him. “How do you know I have a part-time job?” he asks, eyes narrowing.

Donghyuck shrugs. “Word gets around?”

Renjun exhales sharply through his nose. “Fine, then is there any way I could repay you then? I feel really bad for making you pay back the 6,000 yuan and for making you run ten laps, especially since you had nothing to do with it.”

Donghyuck waves a dismissive hand. “No, no. I’m fine. Just don’t lose such a huge amount of money again. I won’t be there to save you next time.”

Renjun stays silent and Donghyuck wishes that he’d leave instead of just standing there. Donghyuck, feeling a bit uncomfortable, shifts nervously. “Well,” he says, pointing over to the front gates. “I’m gonna leave. See you around.”

As he turns to leave, Renjun pulls on his arm. Donghyuck freezes and looks at the latter with a confused face. “Do you… need something?” He raises an eyebrow.

Renjun turns a shade of bright red and releases Donghyuck’s arm immediately, spewing out apologies at about 90km/h. He frantically reaches into his bag to pull out a few sheets of papers, and shoves it into Donghyuck’s chest.

“It’s a practice exam,” Renjun says. “Finish this by tonight and bring it in tomorrow, I’ll correct them for you.”

Donghyuck stares at the boy in front of him. “You’re joking, right?” He looks through the papers. “I don’t study. You should take these back and use them for yourself.”

Renjun folds his arms across his chest. “No, it’s a thank you for what you did for me this morning. I’ll help you get your grades up.” 

Donghyuck knows he made the worst choice he possibly could, helping Renjun.

“If I knew that you’d just make me do a bunch of practice exams, I wouldn’t have helped in the first place,” Donghyuck scoffs. 

Renjun’s face hardens and he reaches over to snatch the practice exam out of Donghyuck’s hand. Donghyuck moves faster and holds it high above him.

“Just give it back if you won’t use it,” Renjun says, monotoned. 

Donghyuck quickly stuffs the practice exam into his bag. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t use it!” he rebuts.

Renjun looks at him. “I’m just trying to help you, as a way of saying thank you,” he softly says. “It’d be great if you could do the exam, but…” He trails off. “Just do this for me, please. I’ll mark it tomorrow. Let me repay you by helping you. I wouldn't know how to face you otherwise.”

Donghyuck purses his lips together. He’s not the best at saying no to people, so he sighs and nods his head. “Alright, I won’t have to do this anymore after our exams, right?”  
  
“No, if you don’t want to.”

Donghyuck hums. “Alright, I’ll _try_ and do this. No promises, though.”  
  
Renjun says nothing but just nods, before running off to meet up with Chenle, probably.

So he leaves Donghyuck alone, a bit baffled, with a crumpled practice exam in his bag and tons of regrets churning in his head. Something at the back of his mind tells him that he’d be seeing a lot more of Renjun now, whether he likes it or not.  
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck doesn’t want to admit it, but he stayed up pretty late last night trying to finish that dumb practice exam.

He struggled, for the most part. He swears his teacher never taught them how to solve vector equations or whatever they’re called. Or maybe she did, because that topic took up the majority of the practice exam, but Donghyuck blames her for not being interesting enough for him to eagerly participate in class.

He walks into the classroom quietly and slams himself down onto his desk. 

His friends can entertain themselves for now. He had caught sight of Jaemin in the corner of the classroom chatting to Zhenghao when he walked in, and Jeno and YangYang were nowhere to be seen.

He checks the time on his watch; there’s around ten minutes until class starts. He rests his head on his arms and tries to force himself into taking a short nap, feeling too tired after having his precious sleeping time taken away from him. 

As he’s about to completely drift off into dreamland, he feels a sharp poke in his back.

He ignores it, hoping that whoever’s making holes in his uniform leaves him alone, but then he remembers _who_ is sitting behind him.

“Can you please stop?” Donghyuck asks tiredly as he lifts his head up and twists his body to send Renjun a look of disapproval. He’s too tired to think of some snarky remark for the boy sitting behind him. “You’re gonna make me bleed.”

Renjun says nothing and instead holds out his hand.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes and reaches to dig around his bag. He pulls out three extremely crumpled sheets of paper and places them in Renjun’s hands. 

A look of surprise flashes across Renjun’s face, before he takes a pen out of his pencil case and begins marking the practice exam Donghyuck never wants to see again in his life.

His self-esteem lowers significantly when Renjun turns the page (to all the vector questions) and pauses to stare at them. He looks up and sends Donghyuck a puzzled look. “Do you even know what you’re doing here?” He asks, leaning over and showing Donghyuck the page.

Donghyuck takes one look at the page and pushes it away. “I don’t even know what vectors are, Renjun. Let alone how to find them.”

Renjun lets out an exasperated sigh and focuses his attention back to the practice exam. 

Donghyuck, who decides that his self-esteem has been brought down enough for the day, turns back around and returns to resting his head on his arms. It’s a bit hard to fall asleep, however, when Renjun is marking his exam paper so _loudly._

“Could you mark any louder?” Donghyuck mumbles into his arms.

Renjun hums from behind him. “Did you say something?” 

Donghyuck lets out a muffled groan just as Renjun happily exclaims that he’s done marking. 

Another tap to his back and Donghyuck might just lose it.

“I’m not joking when I say I’m gonna start bleeding,” he snaps at Renjun as he sharply turns around. “Why do you have to poke me with your pencil? Just poke me with your finger or whatever.”  
  
“You think I want to touch you?” Renjun provokes. His grin falls immediately when he realises he said it outloud. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Dude, it’s fine,” Donghyuck says. “It’s normal to playfully banter, that’s what friends do?” He realises that he said it more like a question than a statement.

This interaction makes Donghyuck think that Renjun doesn’t have (a lot of) friends. And if he _did_ , he needs to get away from them immediately because with the way he’s acting right after being playful just doesn’t seem right.

“Do you have friends?” Donghyuck asks, speaking his mind.

Renjun stares at him, agape. “What do you mean ‘do you have friends’?” He sputters. “Why— of course I do! Who doesn’t? Why are you even asking?”  
  
“You’re getting really defensive,” Donghyuck points out. “You sure?”

“Yes, I have Chenle,” Renjun says. “And enough of that, do you want me to help with vectors? It’s honestly not that hard of a concept to understand.”

Donghyuck gives him a dirty look. “Yeah, it’s not hard to understand for _you_. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m sorta dumb.”  
  
Renjun studies him for a second before running a hand through his hair. “No one’s dumb, Donghyuck. Here—” He hands the practice exam back. “— keep those on you for today, I’ll help you after-school, how about that?” He looks at Donghyuck with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

Donghyuck, for some odd reason, finds it very hard to say ‘no’.

“Sure,” he says through dry lips. He knows he’s going to regret it. He doesn’t want to study, let alone stay back _after-school_ to study.

Renjun sends him a shy smile and nods, confirming their plans for the afternoon.

Donghyuck is unable to stop himself from letting the next few words tumble out from his mouth.

“Do you wanna hang with my friends and I at lunch later?”  
  
Renjun freezes.

“You can bring Chenle, too!” Donghyuck quickly adds on. “If you want to though. Please don’t think that this is a threat.”

Renjun laughs softly, and Donghyuck almost, _almost_ , understands why Jaemin is so smitten with him. It’s kind of hard to imagine that this was the person threatening him to finish a practice exam yesterday, when he almost looks like an angel at this exact moment.

“Sure. Thank you for the offer,” Renjun says quietly. “I’ll see if I can pull Chenle along with me.”  
  
Donghyuck is reminded of his conversation with YangYang from a while ago. “I don’t think Chenle likes us very much,” he says with a grin.

“He really doesn’t, but I’m sure that’ll change by lunch,” Renjun states. “He just sees you guys as trouble-makers.”

Donghyuck whistles. “He’s not wrong though. We kinda are, just not as bad as all of you guys think. We still have feelings, you know. We’re not heartless.”

“I know,” Renjun muses, resting his chin in his hand. “Not too sure about Chenle though.”  
  
“Should you really be talking about your friend like this?” Donghyuck challenges, leaning back in his chair, in an attempt to get closer to the other boy. 

“Oh, so _now_ he’s my friend,” Renjun says with a mocking tone.

Donghyuck huffs and stares at Renjun exasperatedly. “Wow, you’re using that tone of voice with me? I can’t believe I invited you to hang with me at lunch. You’re no longer invited.”

Renjun's face falls immediately and he looks around nervously. “Really?” he asks in a small voice. 

Awkward tension fills the air and Donghyuck doesn’t like how fast the atmosphere changed between the two of them.

The more Donghyuck stares at him, the redder Renjun’s cheeks seem to grow. The latter bites down on his lower lip, teeth sinking into his flesh, as he nervously feels around his table for his papers.

“Renjun, I’m joking.” Donghyuck tries to reassure him. “But don’t be so sad even if I _do_ tell you you’re not allowed to hang out with us anymore. We don’t really do much.”  
  
“Nothing like spray-painting walls?” Renjun raises an eyebrow.

“Does it look like we carry spray-cans around? Of course we don’t. We just sit down and eat. It’s pretty boring.”

Renjun shakes his head, smiling from ear to ear. “No way, I’m sure it’s not boring. You guys seem like an interesting bunch.”

Donghyuck stares at him, before shrugging and turning back around.

“Alright,” he singsongs. “If you say so.”  
  


* * *

  
“Care to explain to me why Huang Renjun and Zhong Chenle are sitting with us?” YangYang asks in a hushed tone, quiet enough so that the two people mentioned sitting in front of him wouldn’t hear. 

Donghyuck pays no attention to him, and instead just simply shrugs, not meeting YangYang’s eyes.

Jaemin hasn’t said a word from the moment Renjun (and Chenle) appeared out of nowhere and sat across from Donghyuck, beside Jaemin. Donghyuck, who was occupied at that time talking to Jeno, sent a small smile Renjun’s way as he sat down beside him. Jaemin, who was just silently munching away on his homemade yakisoba, paused mid-bite with eyes wide open in shock.

Donghyuck doesn’t think he’s taken his eyes off Renjun from the moment the latter appeared.

And if Renjun’s noticed Jaemin’s lingering gaze, he sure hasn’t said anything about it.

To Donghyuck’s surprise, Renjun gets on pretty well with Jeno. Probably because of Jeno’s newfound interest in studying, but Donghyuck doesn’t want to make assumptions. Chenle is a bit more closed off, which is to be expected, only chiming into conversations when he’s mentioned.

“So, Chenle,” YangYang starts, stretching out the last syllable. “I find it interesting how you’re sitting with us. A change of heart coming from you, perhaps?”  
  
Chenle flushes a deep shade of red and Renjun has to hold down a snicker from beside him.

“It’s not like I _wanted_ to be here!” Chenle exclaims, folding his arms over his chest. “I would leave if I could.”

“Then do it,” YangYang provokes, pointing his pair of chopsticks at the boy sitting across from him.

Chenle looks stunned. “Now?” he asks, his voice coming out a bit wobbly.

YangYang nods with an evil grin that Donghyuck _knows_ Jeno would slap him for if Renjun and Chenle weren’t here. 

“You’re not moving.” YangYang really doesn’t know when to shut up, but at this point, his poor victim’s face is already a bright shade of red. “Something tells me you _do_ like our company.”

Chenle has a surprised look plastered all over his face and red rising up from his neck. Donghyuck would have found the reaction funny, except Chenle suddenly slams his palms on the table and stands up to leave the table without a second glance, his lunch box in hand.

The table is silent as they watch Chenle’s retreating figure. They didn’t intend to hurt him or make him feel uncomfortable, but Donghyuck will admit that maybe YangYang took it a bit too far. After all, Chenle isn’t their friend, they’re not in the same friend group. They don’t know how much Chenle is able to take before it actually hurts him.

YangYang sends an apologetic look towards Renjun, in which Renjun shakes his head dismissively at.

“I’ll go get him. Sorry about that,” He says, packing up his lunch box. “He gets overwhelmed easily.”

The rest of the group asks Renjun to apologise on behalf of them and tell him that he’s free to join them whenever he wants, as they enjoy his company. Renjun accepts with a bright smile on his face.

Before leaving, Renjun turns to Donghyuck and says, quite loudly for the entire table to hear; “We’re still on for after school right?” to which Donghyuck nods nervously while glancing over at his other friends who are staring intensely at him.

Renjun, satisfied with that answer, smiles and runs off to chase down Chenle.

The moment he’s out of earshot, the entire group pounces on Donghyuck.  
  
“After school?!” YangYang is quite literally shouting at him. “Are you guys going out on a date?!”

Before Donghyuck could even get a word out, YangYang pulls Jaemin by the hair and shoves him right in front of Donghyuck’s face. “Renjun is meant to be _this_ guy’s!” he continues. “What happened to the ‘bro code’?”

Donghyuck pushes Jaemin’s face away from him, he’s far too close to him for his own comfort. 

“Calm down, YangYang,” Donghyuck says as Jaemin detaches himself from YangYang’s hold. “I’m not interested in dating him, he’s not my type.”

“Then what are you guys doing after school?” YangYang bites, leaning over the table. His face is _so close_ to Donghyuck that every time he exhaled, Donghyuck had to suppress the urge to gag. His breath smells a _lot_ like onions, and Donghyuck doesn’t like onions.

“Your breath stinks,” Donghyuck complains, leaning backwards to avoid the stench. “Go rinse your mouth or something before we move on. Or, just don’t lean so close into me.”

YangYang scrunches up his face and returns to sitting on the bench. “You could have said that nicely,” he says with an upset tone. “You’re so mean Lee Donghyuck.”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes and turns to Jaemin. “Don’t worry about me stealing him or whatever. I really don’t have any interest in him.” He places emphasis on ‘really’ to hopefully make it sound more believable. Believable to himself or to Jaemin or to the group, he doesn’t really know.

Jaemin smiles sheepishly, seemingly embarrassed by YangYang’s outburst towards Donghyuck a few seconds ago. “It’s fine,” he says. “I’m not upset. It’s not like you guys can’t be friends with him just because I have a crush on him.” He pauses as he wraps his chopsticks in a thin sheet of tissue. “And a crush is meant to be a brief infatuation for someone unattainable. So if Renjun, and Chenle, hang out with us more, that crush might be gone just like that.” He clicks his fingers.

Everything happens in a flash, and the next thing they know, Donghyuck and YangYang are all over Jaemin, with Jeno attempting to pull them all apart. 

“Do _not_ tell me I’ve been listening to you gush about Renjun for the past three plus months only for you to stop liking him,” YangYang cries as he shakes Jaemin by the collar. “Do not say that, please. Even if it happens, don’t tell me. Let me pretend you still have a crush on Renjun even when we’re 20.”

Donghyuck places his cold hands down Jaemin’s back, feeling a weird sense of satisfaction when Jaemin jumps at the contact. “That will be three or so months YangYang and I will never get back,” he whispers into Jaemin’s ear, or attempts to, with YangYang’s shaking.

“Okay!” Jaemin lets out between fits of giggles as YangYang moves onto tickling him. “Okay! I’m sorry! Now get off me!” he says with a gasping breath as he digs his nails in YangYangs forearm. 

YangYang lets go and bounces back immediately. “Jaemin, what the heck?!” he hisses. “That hurt!”

Jaemin straightens out his collar and gives the two of them a mischievous smile. “Love you, YangYang,” he says as he ruffles his hair. He turns around and pokes Donghyuck in the cheek. “Your hands are _really_ cold, you’re lacking in nutrients,” he laughs. “Come on, class is starting soon.” He fixes his hair and skips away, back into the main building, with his lunchbox in his hands. 

“He really reminds me of a bunny sometimes,” YangYang deadpans. “So full of energy and free.” He shakes his head. “Come on, class _is_ starting soon, let’s go.”  
  


* * *

  
“You made it weird at lunch,” Donghyuck comments as he settles himself down at his desk. He takes out his exercise books and twists his body to face Renjun, who’s sitting behind him. “What are we doing today?”

It’s pretty silent, minus the screams and shouts from the after-school basketball club camping out on the basketball courts outside a few floors below. Donghyuck has never stayed back after school before, even the thought of it makes him want to cry. But here he is, after school _studying_ , with one of the top scorers in the class. 

“I made it weird?” Renjun tilts his head to the side, his pencil twirling in between his fingers. “Elaborate please.”

“It’s nothing, you just worded it to make it seem like we’re doing something weird together.”

Renjun pauses. “Oh, I didn’t know. Sorry about that.”

Donghyuck brushes him off. “It’s fine. But what are we doing? Do you have another practice exam for me?”

Renjun glances at him with a confused look plastered all over his face. “What do you mean ‘what are we doing’? We’re studying for the mid-year maths exam at the end of next week.”

Donghyuck feels his heart drop and he searches for a sign on Renjun’s face that he’s joking. There’s no way the mid-year exam is in three days. Heck, the last time he checked, there was still another three weeks to prepare. 

All Donghyuck can do is let out an off-putting sound of: “Huh?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know,” Renjun sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ms Tsai has been telling us to prepare for it for the past week.”

Donghyuck shrugs. “I don’t listen to anything that woman says.”

“I was talking about it with Jeno at lunch today.”

“The mid-year?”

Renjun nods.

Donghyuck purses his lips. “He didn’t tell me anything,” he says. “I mean, he _doesn’t_ have to, it’s not his job to tell me when we have exams. It would have been nice if he _did_ tell me though. I wonder if YangYang and Jaemin knew about the exams. If they knew about them and they didn’t tell me I swear there’ll be an unfriending of a friend group later tonight.” He notices he’s rambling.

Renjun lets out a suppressed laughter. “Calm down,” he jokes. “Don’t worry, I’m here, remember? I score pretty high on my tests and quizzes—”

“Yeah, I know,” Donghyuck cuts him off. Renjun shushes him.

“— I’m here to help you,” he continues. “What do you need help with? Other than vectors.”

Donghyuck rubs his nose. “Erm… Everything?” He flashes a forced smile towards Renjun.

“Do you not pay attention in class?” Renjun sighs, twirling his pencil again. “Is it just maths?”

“It’s just maths,” Donghyuck answers. “Believe it or not, I’m actually quite good at every other subject.” And it’s not a lie. Despite not actively tuning in during classes, Donghyuck happens to be able to pick up on formulas and definitions really quickly. With maths being the exception, of course. If he’s too perfect, people might just start witch-hunting him.

“Well, we have about a week to get everything done,” Renjun hums. “Are you up for the challenge?”  
  
A smile spreads across Donghyuck’s face. “I love challenges.”  
  


* * *

  
“Renjun, it’s already eight. Can I go home now?” Donghyuck whines as he stretches out his back.

He’s sitting a few rows behind Renjun now, as he had moved around multiple times in the past two hours, complaining that it’s impossible to study maths while being seated on a chair. Renjun then told him to shut up and sit back down, but since Renjun said it in a mean tone, Donghyuck instead went to the 7/11 right outside of their school and returned with some crackers and two tea eggs just to spite him. 

“Have you finished the textbook questions?” Renjun asks, not looking up.

Donghyuck snaps a cracker in half as he looks at the scribbled page that was meant to be filled with his answers. “No?”

Even from the back of the room, Donghyuck can hear Renjun’s sigh. 

“Alright, I’ll give it to you,” Renjun says as he closes his textbook. “I’m surprised you stayed back studying with me for three hours.” He looks back at Donghyuck and smiles. “Let’s go home.”

Donghyuck could feel the heavy weight on his shoulders become lighter after hearing the words; ‘let’s go home’ and so he sweeps off all the books and papers off his desk and quickly throws everything into his bag. 

He waits at the door, because Renjun is moving _so_ slowly. “Hurry up,” he says, stretching out the last syllable. “It’s going to be like nine o’clock or something when you finish packing.”

Renjun sticks his tongue out at him as he slings his bag over his shoulder. “You’re so mean, Lee Donghyuck.”

Donghyuck scoffs as Renjun walks by him. “YangYang said the exact same thing to me at lunch today, am I really that mean?”

Renjun stops and looks back at Donghyuck, who’s leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed and a raised eyebrow. “Hm…” He nods approvingly. “I like the way YangYang thinks.” 

Donghyuck opens his mouth to protest, but since Renjun is already half-way down the hallway, he runs to catch up to him. “No way you’re siding with YangYang. I met you first, you’re _my_ friend, not his,” he sulks. “You can’t team up on me when I’m the reason you guys had that one conversation together.”

“ _We_ had our first conversation _yesterday_ ,” Renjun argues. 

“Huh, I didn’t even notice. It’s as if I’ve known you for all my life,” Donghyuck murmurs. There’s no hint of sarcasm in his voice, and Renjun glances at him with a small surprised look on his face. 

They exit the school building, and the evening spring breeze brushes by Donghyuck’s exposed skin, sending a small shiver down his spine. He’s wearing their school’s summer uniform, as he had thought that the temperature wouldn’t drop so much in the late evening. Goosebumps start to appear on his arm and he wants to get home as soon as possible.

“Are you cold?” he asks Renjun. 

Renjun, who probably checked the weather beforehand, is dressed completely in their spring uniform with his blazer wrapping his petite figure. He looks _very_ warm right now, and Donghyuck curses at 6am him for not bringing his blazer.

“Nope.” Renjun shakes his head. “Are you?”

Donghyuck scrunches up his nose. “Yeah, a bit. Kinda wanna go home quickly.” He looks over at Renjun and silently asks for permission to run off, to which the latter catches on and nods at. Donghyuck is silently impressed with how quickly Renjun caught on with his facial expressions, as even Jeno has a hard time doing that.

He takes one last look back at Renjun, before jogging away against the wind, with a small smile on his face.

“We’re doing this again tomorrow!” He hears Renjun shout from behind him.

He slows down as he considers it for a second. He _did_ have fun with Renjun studying, even though he was distracted half the time, and it _is_ better than studying by himself. 

“Sure!” He shouts back over his shoulder. “Bring me another practice exam tomorrow!”

He could practically _hear_ the excitement from Renjun’s fading voice as he replied with an ‘of course!’. And for some strange reason, hearing that tone of voice made Donghyuck feel warm, despite being out in the cold.

Perhaps Huang Renjun isn’t as bad as he thought he is.  
  


* * *

  
The next few days are a blur for Donghyuck, and he gets a small break over the weekend. Renjun gave him two practice booklets to complete, but the difference between doing work after school and at home is that Renjun isn’t nagging behind him every second, so he forgets about the booklets until he walks through the school gates on the following Monday morning. 

“Maths mid-year in four days,” Renjun says with a smile on his face as Donghyuck sits himself down in his seat. “Are you ready?”

Donghyuck turns back with half-lidded eyes. “I guess?” he says as he rests his chin in his palm. “I’m not confident but I’ll probably do better than I’ve ever in my life.”

Renjun nods. “Okay, that’s good to hear. At least I know I helped a bit. Give me your booklets. There’s still time before class starts, I’ll mark them right now.” 

Donghyuck freezes and his eyes widen.

Renjun’s face falls upon seeing this reaction. “You didn’t do them did you?” He sighs and leans forward. “Just because I’m not there to push you doesn’t mean you can just stop doing the exercise. I spend a lot of time making them, you know?”  
  
Okay, _now_ Donghyuck feels bad. But in his defense, Renjun didn’t tell him that he made it from scratch himself. If he did, then it changes everything. Donghyuck will make sure to remember that, but he isn’t sure whether or not Renjun would make another booklet for him after this. Renjun probably thinks it’s a waste of time because he didn’t do them. 

“I didn’t know,” Donghyuck pouts. “If you told me you made it yourself I would’ve done them. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Renjun waves him off. “Just do them tonight.”

“Will do,” Donghyuck says. He studies Renjun for a second, watching him as he takes out his books for the first lesson. 

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Renjun asks as he raises an eyebrow. He takes out a pencil and starts twirling it in between his fingers. A habit of his that Donghyuck has learnt after spending hours after school with him. “You’re weird.” 

Donghyuck makes a face at that comment. “What’s wrong with staring?”  
  
“Everything.”

Donghyuck shrugs. “You know, you’re pretty boring,” he says with a straight face.

Renjun furrows his eyebrows. “That’s really sudden. What did I do this time?” The pencil he’s twirling is in the corner of Donghyuck’s tunnel vision, and it’s starting to irk him off a bit. 

Donghyuck frowns and plucks the pencil out of Renjun’s hand. “I don’t know how you can study for so long without needing some kind of reward system,” he comments, attempting to copy Renjun’s way of twirling the pencil. It doesn’t work out and the pencil goes flying to the front of the room.

Renjun sharply exhales as he leaves his seat to fetch said pencil. Donghyuck looks at him with apologetic eyes as he returns.

“To answer your question,” Renjun says as he sits back down. “Getting good marks _is_ the reward for me. Passing and getting highest in the class is why I study so hard. What I don’t understand is how _you_ need a reward system to get through school.”

“I need a reward system to get through everything,” Donghyuck comments. “ _Including_ this exam we’re doing.” From the look on Renjun’s face, he knows exactly what he’s hinting at.

Renjun side-eyes him. “I’m not making a bet with you.”

“Making a bet with me is the best way to get me to study more!” Donghyuck exclaims, arms flailing in front of Renjun’s face. “Isn’t that what you want me to do?”

Renjun pushes Donghyuck’s arms away. “Fine, let’s say we make a bet. What are we betting on?”

Donghyuck grows silent. To be honest, he didn’t expect Renjun to agree with him that easily. He had always thought Renjun was someone who was extremely stubborn and would put his foot down at things he doesn’t agree with. Turns out Donghyuck was wrong, again.

“If I get higher than you in the mid-term I get to take you out to roller skate.”

What Donghyuck did not expect was for Renjun’s face to drain all colours. Roller skating isn’t even that bad, you might get a few bruises and bumps here and there but you wouldn’t _die_. Donghyuck has no idea why Renjun looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Are you okay?” Donghyuck asks, poking Renjun’s hand. “You’re acting like I said I’d take you bungee jumping or something. Why are you so pale?”

Renjun snaps back to reality and whispers in a small voice. “I can’t roller skate. I don’t know how to.”

Donghyuck almost finds him _cute_. But the part that finds him amusing overrides that thought so he pushes it to the back of his mind. Renjun isn’t cute, he made him do all those practice exams.

“I was worried that you were dying,” Donghyuck laughs. “Don’t scare me like that.”  
  
Renjun hides his face in his hands. “I have some bad experiences with roller skating, I can’t do it.”

“You’re acting as if I’ve won the bet already, calm down,” Donghyuck snickers. “Isn’t this more reason for you to win the bet?”

Renjun glares at him through his fingers. “I wasn’t going to lose in the first place.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” Donghyuck taunts. “C’mon, roller skating isn’t even that bad. I’ll guide and hold onto you. I swear on my life you will not get any bruises.” He places his right hand over his heart. “Promise.”

Renjun sighs as he removes his hands from his face. 

“Alright,” he says after a moment of silence. “But if I get higher than you then…” He trails off as he scrunches up his face, thinking.

“Nothing illegal,” Donghyuck chimes in.

“I know,” Renjun sighs as he rolls his eyes. “I wouldn’t make you do something that bad.” He holds his head in his hands. “Wait, I can’t think of anything.”

“Take your time.”

The moment Renjun’s eyes light up, Donghyuck knows he’s in trouble.

“How about dyeing your hair?” Renjun asks in an excited voice, wiggling in his seat.

Donghyuck’s hand instinctively touches his hair. It’s not that Donghyuck doesn’t want it, heck, he’s wanted to dye his hair for quite a while already, but there’s one small detail that’s holding him back from agreeing to it.

“It’s against school rules to dye your hair, isn’t it?” Donghyuck asks, scrunching up his face. 

Renjun nods. “It is, but when have _you_ ever cared about school rules?”

“I’ve always cared about them,” Donghyuck retaliates.

He’s still skeptical, but he finds himself shaking on it with Renjun.

“I’m not going to dye it green or whatever,” he says. “I’m dying it light brown at most.”

“Sure, I don’t really mind,” Renjun laughs. “But are you sure I won’t die in that skating rink?”

Donghyuck grins from ear to ear. He likes the way Renjun and him are able to banter and play around with each other. He doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to do that with his group of friends. Jeno is too serious, Jaemin can get a bit sensitive and YangYang sometimes is a bit too much for Donghyuck to handle. Renjun is a perfect combination of all three of them, not too sensitive but not too snarky either.

“Of course not,” Donghyuck laughs. “Don’t you trust me?” 

A small, single smile etches itself onto Renjun’s face. “I do. I do trust you.”  
  


* * *

  
Renjun runs ahead to the bulletin board that’s surrounded by too many students for Donghyuck’s liking. It’s a bit of a push-and-pull for Renjun, getting to the front of the crowd, and Donghyuck tries to look over the sea of heads from the back to see if he could somehow see his name. There’s no use, however, as the print is too small and there are way more taller people who are blocking his way. 

He ends up waiting for Renjun in their empty classroom, after all, it’s become a habit to meet here after school every day. He’s sure Renjun knows where to look for if he needs him.

The door slides open slowly and Donghyuck lifts his head up from his workbook. He meets Renjun’s eyes.

“You’re studying?” he asks, in disbelief.

“You’re acting as if I haven’t been studying with you every evening,” Donghyuck says, rolling his eyes. 

Renjun sits down in the seat in front of him and sends a sly smile towards Donghyuck. “So…” he starts off.

Donghyuck pouts. “I don’t want to hear it,” he says, quickly placing his hands over his ears. He can hear the muffled sound of Renjun laughing quietly as he watches him. 

“You gotta keep your end of the bet,” Renjun reminds him, removing Donghyuck’s hands from his ears. 

As his skin comes into contact with Donghyuck’s, he notes that Renjun’s fingers are cold. Really cold. It’s interesting, since he’s always dressed so warmly in his uniform and blazer, sometimes with a scarf on top of it too. Donghyuck remembers asking him last week why he brings around a scarf when they’re in Spring, but Renjun just dismissed the question and said you should always be prepared.

“Alright, I will,” Donghyuck says. “I’m not one to back out on bets.”

Renjun opens his mouth to, probably, rebut that statement, but he’s interrupted by the loud sound of rain hitting the school roof. 

“Whoa, that came out of nowhere,” Renjun whispers. “It’s pretty heavy.”

“Why are you whispering?”

Renjun shoots him a glare. “You ruined the moment,” he huffed. “We’re meant to talk in hushed voices and listen to the rain falling.”

Donghyuck raises his eyebrows. “What does that even mean? You’ve been watching too many movies.” He leans over and ruffles Renjun’s hair. “I feel like you’d be the type of person who’d enjoy fighting in the rain with the person you like, and when you walk off, they’d pull you back and confess their love to you,” he teases. 

Renjun pushes his hand away. “For your information, I think kisses in the rain are very romantic, thank you very much. Also, that is _extremely_ specific. Maybe _you’re_ the one who watches too many movies.”

He pauses, before continuing. “Wait, why are you even here? Our last mid-term was yesterday. You don’t have to be here anymore.” 

Donghyuck is _offended_ that Renjun had thought that he’d ditch him the second he’s able to. He’s grown attached to the star student, unfortunately. “That’s mean,” he frowns. “I think you’re fun to be around. I don’t get why I can only hang around you when we have exams or tests. We’re friends, remember?” He flicks his fingers on Renjun’s forehead. “Where did your brain go? Hello? Anyone home?”

Renjun swats his arm away and turns around sharply, to study or whatever he has to do even though mid-terms are already over. But Donghyuck still saw that small smile Renjun tried so hard to hide as he turned around. 

_It’s cute_ , Donghyuck thinks. And for the first time, he doesn’t have anything to counter that thought.

He stares at Renjun’s back for a while, before ultimately deciding to run out of the classroom and school before Renjun can even bat an eye.

There’s a hair salon that’s about a ten minute walk from his school. Five minutes if he runs, and in the rain, Donghyuck is sure it'll be even faster.

He slams the salon door open, drenched from head to toe, and he feels bad for whoever will have to mop the floor later. He makes up his mind that he’ll tip a fair amount to make up for the trouble the staff will have to go through when he leaves. As he sits down on the chair, he finds himself feeling even worse as he’s staining the salon’s nice cushion chairs.

“Auntie, could you dye my hair light brown, please?” he asks, as the auntie covers his body with a black cutting cape. 

“Dye? Isn’t it against school rules to dye your hair?” She raises an eyebrow as she looks at Donghyuck through the mirror.

“It’s okay, I don’t really follow the school rules,” he says. “It shouldn’t take too long, right?”

She stays silent for a second. “It’ll take up to 45 minutes at most,” she replies.

Donghyuck nods at that. “That’s perfect. Light brown it is.”  
  


* * *

  
In hindsight, he should have double checked with a mirror and a wig to see exactly what he’d look like with light brown hair. He doesn’t look weird, no- of course he doesn’t look weird, but it just looks _extremely_ unnatural. Donghyuck won’t lie, he had thought that he’d look even more striking with light brown, but maybe next time he’ll keep his original hair colour.

As he leaves the salon, he realises that the rain has stopped. He runs a hand through his newly dyed hair, having a few second thoughts as he walks slowly back to school, and wonders what Renjun would think of his hair. He could already hear the latter laugh at him because he looks like a fool. There’s a voice in the back of his head telling him that Renjun has probably already gone home after he stormed out of the classroom, but he shakes that thought away, confident that Renjun is still there, studying.

“Oh, thank god you’re still here,” he says upon entering the classroom. “If you weren’t then it’d be awkward.”

Renjun’s head snaps up immediately. “Where did you go? You can’t just…” He trails off as he squints his eyes, trying to find out what’s different from the Donghyuck he saw an hour ago. “Did you dye your hair?” he exclaims slowly, stretching out his words. 

Donghyuck sits down on the table in front of Renjun, turning the chair around to face him. “What do you think?” He asks, running his fingers through his hair.

Renjun stares at his hair for a second, before letting his eyes drift back to his work. “You look dumb,” he says, without a second thought.

“I knew it,” Donghyuck sighs. “I knew you’d say that.” He pauses and Renjun glances up from his notebook. “Are you done studying?” he asks, catching Renjun’s glance. “Let’s go home now. Your brain’s going to fall out at this rate.”

Renjun scrunches up his nose. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” he says, but he obliges with Donghyuck’s suggestion and packs up his books. “You didn’t study today,” he comments, picking his bag up from the floor as Donghyuck rushes to open the classroom door for him.  
  
“I can’t study every day,” Donghyuck complains, attaching himself onto Renjun’s bag. “I’d go insane!”

“Are you calling me insane?”  
  
“Damn right I am!”

Donghyuck hears Renjun sigh. They walk in silence through the school, something that they’ve done after every single ‘study lesson’ together. It gives them time to collect their thoughts, or just simply relax to let their minds wander. It’s not awkward, it’s almost never awkward when Donghyuck is with Renjun. It’s interesting, though, because Donghyuck had always thought that they were complete opposites, but the more time he spends with Renjun, the more he realises that that isn’t the case.

They walk in a comfortable silence until they reach the school gates.

“Don’t get sick,” Renjun says. “You ran out when it was raining, quickly go home and take a warm shower.”

“I’m all dry now though!” Donghyuck refutes, puffing out his cheeks.

Renjun laughs and pushes him lightly. “You can’t get sick,” he scolds, looking back at Donghyuck. 

Under the orange haze being casted off the sun that’s threatening to dip behind the horizon, Renjun looks as if he’s glowing. With his sun-kissed skin and his rosy cheeks, with his innocent demour and hesitance in his movements, Renjun is breath-taking. And then he gives him that smile of his that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through Donghyuck.

He doesn’t even bother to hide the blush creeping up his face as he drowns out Renjun’s words.

“ _—_ how are you meant to take me roller skating?”

He snaps back to reality after hearing those words. “What?” he asks. “But I lost the bet…”

Renjun pouts. “Have you not been listening?” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I can’t believe you, Lee Donghyuck.”

He says nothing more, and begins walking away.

“Wait!” Donghyuck cries, catching up to him. “So you mean I can take you roller skating?” he asks with stars in his eyes.

Renjun looks at him and laughs. “Yeah, sure. So you can’t get sick, okay?” He pats Donghyuck’s head, tangling his fingers in his newly dyed hair.

He pulls away in a second, seemingly flustered. “I’ve got to go now!” he squeaks. “We can plan everything tomorrow.” 

Donghyuck smiles. “Yes, of course. Make sure to get home safely.”

“You too.”  
  


* * *

  
“I’m starting to have second thoughts about this.”

Donghyuck looks over to his right to see Renjun holding his head in his hands. 

“You’re overreacting,” he says as he lifts Renjun’s chin up and places a helmet onto his head. “You’re not going to die, I’m here.”

“Not exactly the most reassuring thing to hear coming from you,” Renjun scoffs, as he swats away Donghyuck’s hands, clipping on the helmet himself.

Donghyuck pulls himself up off the floor and extends an arm to Renjun, to which the latter accepts as he stumbles over his roller skates trying to do the same thing. “You sure I won’t die?” Renjun asks, lifting an eyebrow at Donghyuck after almost falling face-first onto the floor. Luckily, Donghyuck was prepared for such things to happen and managed to grab hold of Renjun’s arm before anything bad could happen to his face.

“What would you do without me?” he teases as he pulls Renjun back onto his feet. “You’ve got to relax. Just think of it as ice-skating.”  
  
“I don’t ice-skate,” Renjun mumbles as Donghyuck lets go of his arm. “I don’t normally do things where I have to rely on wheels or knives to keep me moving.”

Donghyuck audibly sighs as Renjun attaches himself onto his arm once more, before losing his balance and taking Donghyuck down with him .

“I’m starting to think this isn’t a good idea,” Donghyuck groans, rubbing the spot on his knee where he knows a bruise will form later. “We haven’t even made it into the rink yet, but I swear I’ve already gotten two bruises.”  
  
“I did try to tell you that this isn’t a good idea,” Renjun pouts as he gets up on his knees. “Help me up,” he demands. “I can’t stand up with these wheels.”  
  
Donghyuck lends Renjun a hand and guides him to the metal rail. “Hold onto this,” he instructs, letting go of Renjun. “Stay there until you’re able to stand without falling.”

Even in the dark, crowded rink and under the flashing colours being emitted from the LED lights situated all over the ceiling, Donghyuck can see Renjun’s knuckle turning white from gripping onto the rail so tightly.

He reaches out and takes Renjun’s hand. “You know what, just hold my hand instead. Your knuckle is turning all white.”

Before Donghyuck could even register it, Renjun begins to squeeze his hand so tightly to the point where it feels like it would break at any second. “Slow down, buddy,” Donghyuck laughs nervously, moving backwards, keeping his eyes on Renjun. “You’re going to break my hand.”

Renjun’s face is all scrunched up as he puts all his energy into _not_ falling onto the floor. “I’m sorry,” he whispers out. “I just don’t have a good sense of balance.”

Donghyuck nods and switches his position to be next to Renjun. “It’s okay, everyone starts off like this. Just spread open your legs a bit, into something like a v shape, and bend your knees. Yes, just like that.”

Renjun looks kind of funny right now, with his butt sticking out and arms spread open beside him. But Donghyuck knows better than to laugh, because he knows that by the end of the day, Renjun will probably end up roller skating better than him.

Donghyuck tries to let go of Renjun’s hand, but Renjun notices and moves faster, so he’s able to snatch it back before Donghyuck could skate off. “You’re not letting go of me until I can actually move,” Renjun seethes.

“You’re doing great, though!” Donghyuck tries to persuade him, feeling almost all the sensation in his hand gone. “You’re not even falling anymore.”  
  
Renjun shoots him a glare to tell him to stop talking, and Donghyuck shuts his mouth immediately. He stands next to Renjun for a few minutes, as he teaches him how to move and how to balance, until he spots an opening to dash off.

Renjun loosens his grip on Donghyuck’s hand as he successfully balances himself and Donghyuck doesn’t need to be told twice that this is his chance. 

He skates off before Renjun can say a word, throwing up peace signs at the boy who just fell onto the floor due to the sudden absence of his main balance point.

He doesn’t look back, feeling a bit bad for leaving Renjun alone, but Renjun’s against the wall and the rail is right above his head, all he has to do is reach up and he’ll be back on his feet again. And it’s not as if he’ll be trampled by all the other people here either, he may be small, but he’s not hard to miss.

That’s why he feels guilty when he finishes up his lap and finds Renjun sitting on the floor in the same exact spot he had left him.

“Why aren’t you up and having fun?” Donghyuck asks, looking down at him and going around in little circles. “Stop fooling around and let loose.”

“I want to go home,” Renjun frowns as he brings his knees to his face. “It’s not fun if you just leave me here alone. Everyone’s staring at me.”  
  
Donghyuck scans the rink before bending down to meet eye level with Renjun. “I can assure you that no one is staring at you,” he says softly. “C’mon, get up.”

Renjun huffs as he grips onto the rail above his head, pulling himself up. “Please hold my hand,” he says as he shakingly laces his fingers with Donghyuck’s. “Don’t leave me this time.”

Renjun just looks so cute with his rosy cheeks and big eyes that Donghyuck doesn’t have the heart to say no. “I won’t,” he replies, grinning from ear-to-ear. “But first, you’ve got to do one lap by yourself!” 

He pushes Renjun forwards, laughing as he watches the latter try to (not so gracefully) skate back to the sidelines and be one with the rail again. “Lee Donghyuck!” Renjun cries, looking back at him.

Panic seeps in when Donghyuck realises he pushed Renjun with a bit too much force. 

“Turn around, don’t look at me! You’re going to bump into that wall-”  
  


* * *

  
“You’ve been hanging out with Renjun a bit _too_ much, don’t you think?” 

Donghyuck looks up from his bowl of watermelon to see YangYang squinting down at him. 

“Yeah?” he replies, nonchalantly, looking behind the slightly younger boy to see Jeno and Jaemin throwing handfuls of grass at each other. His gaze wanders back to YangYang. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“You’re spending _a lot_ of time with him,” YangYang says, emphasising on two certain words. He sits down in front of him and steals a piece of watermelon.

“We’re friends,” Donghyuck mumbles. “I hang around with you guys and no one ever says a thing.” 

YangYang is quiet for a moment as he chews on the piece in his mouth. “You know,” he begins. “I haven’t heard Jaemin talk about Renjun for a while. Not after him and Chenle started to join us.”

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. “And that concerns me because...?”

“Because I think Jaemin’s infatuation for him has passed.”

Donghyuck studies YangYang’s face before ultimately bursting out into a nervous chuckle. “I still don’t know why that concerns me,” he says, eyes darting around. He slides the bowl away and clasps his hands together. “And how can you be so sure? You’re not Jaemin, how would you know?”  
  
YangYang gives him a look that Donghyuck knows too well. “How ‘bout we ask Jaemin then?” he sing-songs.

Donghyuck lunges across the table in hopes of pulling YangYang down before he could create a mess that doesn’t seem enjoyable to clean up, but YangYang had already called out to Jaemin before he was able to shut him up, so the duo came jogging to the table.

“Something wrong?” Jaemin asks as he takes the seat next to Donghyuck. Jeno squeezes himself between the two.

“It looks like I’m interrogating the three of you,” YangYang laughs. 

Donghyuck wants to stop this conversation as fast as he can, because he _knows_ he’s going to accidentally say something he doesn’t and isn’t ready to yet. But the look on both YangYang and Jaemin’s faces tell him that he’s not getting out until he says something they want him to say.

“Jaemin, you don’t talk about Renjun a lot anymore,” Jaemin hums in agreement besides Donghyuck and YangYang continues. “I’m kinda glad, because _thank god_ , but it’s kinda interesting that you’ve stopped.”

“Interesting? How so?” Jaemin asks, not really paying attention, and attempts to take a piece of watermelon from Donghyuck’s stray bowl. 

Donghyuck slaps his hand away. 

YangYang coughs, bringing their attention back to the Taiwanese boy. “Anyway, as I was saying. You don’t talk about Renjun a lot anymore—”

“I heard you the first time,” Jaemin cuts off, still eyeing the bowl of watermelon.

At the same time, Jeno pipes up; “Why are we talking about Renjun?”

YangYang lets out an exasperated sigh. “ _Anyway_ , back to what I was saying.” He taps the surface of the wooden table impatiently. “You don’t talk much about Renjun anymore, despite literally being friends with him now. Why’s that?”

Jaemin pauses. “Er, I don’t like him anymore?” he questions. “Like I said, I think it was because he seemed unattainable at first, but now he’s my friend so it’s weird.”

YangYang stares at him. “I’m still upset that you made me sit through months of you being all obsessed with him.”  
  
Jaemin waves him off. “We don’t talk about that. _However_...” He looks to his side and locks eyes with Donghyuck. “What have you been doing with Renjun all the time,” he teases, wiggling his eyebrows.

 _This_ is the conversation that Donghyuck does not want to have, not when he himself is not sure of his feelings yet. “What do you want me to say?” he shoots. “That I like him?”

Jaemin shrugs. “I don’t know, you tell me. But you sure are acting like you do.”

Donghyuck watches as Jaemin reaches over and steals a piece of watermelon. “What do you mean?” he asks.

“You see, as someone who has had feelings for Renjun before, I _know_ it when people have a crush on him. I see myself in them,” Jaemin says, smiling. “And you, my friend, looks at him like how I did when he first walked into our classroom.”

“Not to alarm anyone at this table,” Jeno says after a moment of silence. “But I thought it was pretty weird how he stood up for Renjun that one time. The money thing, remember?”

Donghyuck lets his head fall on the table. All eyes are on him now. “Look guys, can we not talk about this, please? I personally don’t know whether I do like him, or not.”

He feels a hand rest on the top of his head. He’s not sure whose it is, but he appreciates the action.

“Sorry, Donghyuck.” He hears Jeno say. It must be Jeno then. “We won’t bring it up again.”  
  
Donghyuck hums uncertainly. “Thank you.”  
  


* * *

  
The next few months pass by in a blink of an eye and before anyone even noticed, Renjun and Chenle, the younger one being pulled in without his consent, permanently joined Donghyuck’s friend group.

It’s sort of surprising how after the two joined, the group began to hang around outside of school a lot more. It’s as if the whole atmosphere had changed. Donghyuck wouldn’t say it’s bad, it’s sort of refreshing, but it was just for the longest time, he had thought that all he needed were Jeno, Jaemin and YangYang. He definitely did _not_ expect Renjun and Chenle to come barging into his friend group and making themselves right at home.

Donghyuck’s habits have also changed for the better. Self-studying after school with Renjun has become a norm for him, with the rest of the group sometimes popping in and joining them. Needless to say, Donghyuck’s grades have improved a lot thanks to Renjun. They haven’t _skyrocketed_ , but they’ve improved enough for the teacher to notice and realise it wasn’t a one time thing. 

He proudly remembers getting back his maths exam with a 75% and his whole class ‘ooh-ing’ at him. He realises he owes a lot to Renjun, and he’s noticed changes that aren’t only his grades. How he views the world is slowly changing after becoming friends with both Renjun and Chenle, the two opening his eyes with knowledge that he knows he’d never want to learn unless it’s from the two.

To say that they’ve grown close is an understatement.  
  
Now, with their university entrance exams in a week’s time, YangYang somehow persuaded the group to take a break from studying and go to the beach to relax. Convincing Chenle took a while, but YangYang somehow did it and now they’re here, on the sandy beach of Changhua.

Donghyuck comes here with YangYang at least once every three months, but he’s never seen the sun set from the beach since him and YangYang always seemingly get bored after a few hours playing in the water. But this time, with a much bigger group, it’s different.

It’s no longer just him and YangYang crying because salt water went into their eyes, getting sunburnt, and running away after seeing a weird looking bag swimming towards them. Now, it’s YangYang splashing water into Chenle’s face, Renjun jumping into the water then clinging onto Jeno due to the sudden coldness, and Jaemin shoving a handful of sand down Donghyuck’s back.

They play in the water for hours, and Donghyuck climbs back onto the pier to take a short break. Renjun follows him after a few minutes.

The two sit in comfortable silence, watching their friends yell and scream under the golden hues of the setting sun. 

“Do you think there’s a parallel universe out there?” Donghyuck asks, breaking the silence. He looks over to Renjun, just in time to see him scrunch up his face in thought. “A different reality that exists at the same time as us.” 

After a few seconds, Renjun faces him and raises an eyebrow. “What’s up with the sudden question?”  
  
Donghyuck shrugs. “I mean, just think about it,” he says, looking into the horizon. “It’s pretty big out there, right?”  
  
“Pretty big?” Renjun hums. “I would believe it’s pretty big.”  
  
Donghyuck starts to smile. “Yeah, so there’s got to be a parallel universe _somewhere_! Like, one where we’re idols, maybe?” He looks at Renjun with a lopsided grin on his face. “Maybe one where we’re the last ones standing in a zombie apocalypse?”

Renjun throws a rock he found on the pier into the water. “That doesn’t sound too fun,” he mutters. “Do you think there’s a parallel universe where we’re all rich and successful?” He gestures to the rest of the group playing out in the ocean. “Where we don’t have to worry about money, or school, or a social life?”

Donghyuck watches as YangYang splashes another handful of seawater in Chenle’s face. Chenle falls over, but not without dragging Jaemin down with him. The two emerge from the water seconds later, and Jaemin’s loud complains can even be heard from where Donghyuck and Renjun are sitting.

“Sure, if there’s a parallel universe where we’re idols, or zombies, I’m sure there’s one where we’re all huge CEOs or something like that.”

Renjun, seemingly satisfied at that answer, slaps Donghyuck’s knee. “Then there’d be a parallel universe where we never meet.”

“There sure would be,” he replies. “There’s a parallel world for anything that doesn’t happen here, I guess that’s why they’re called parallel universes.”  
  
“Wow, when did you actually start using your brain.” Renjun teases, pushing a finger into Donghyuck’s forehead. “I’m such a good influence on you. I remember when we first met, you’d just wander around aimlessly like a lost little puppy.”

“I did _not_ wander around like a little lost puppy.” Donghyuck playfully shoves Renjun off of him. “I’ll throw you in the water if you touch me with those slimy hands again, I swear I saw you touch the moss growing on the pier with them.”  
  
Renjun gives Donghyuck a confused look. “What-” he starts off, before Donghyuck bursts out into laughter. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you,” he says as he stares at Donghyuck, his chin in his hand, shaking his head ever so slightly.

“You two lovebirds! Come down! We’re playing Marco Polo!” Jaemin shouts from beneath them. 

“Marco Polo in the ocean?!” Renjun yells back, a tint of concern in his voice. 

“Make it more fun, you know? If one of us dies, then we die!” Jaemin says over his shoulder as he waddles back to the group.

“You guys have zero impulse control, one of us will end up dead by the end of this year,” Renjun sighs. 

“Sounds pretty accurate,” Donghyuck says, standing up. “Come on, time to get back in the freezing water.”  
  
He places his hands on Renjun’s shoulder. 

“Why are you holding my sh-”

He pushes him down into the water, Renjun’s screaming being carried along with the wind.

“You jerk!” he shouts at him, after emerging from the water. “Couldn’t you have warned me beforehand?”  
  
“If I did, it’ll take away the fun, wouldn't it?” 

“You’re insufferable!”  
  
“You love me.”  
  


* * *

  
To Donghyuck, his university entrance exam seemed to be more like an assessment for how well Huang Renjun’s after school studying sessions had helped him, rather than an exam to get into the university he wanted to get into.

He didn’t aim high. Donghyuck had applied to Mingdao University, knowing that he’d most likely get in with his scores. It’s in Changhua, which means he’d still be in the little, closed off town where he’s grown up all his life. This year brought a lot of change for him, and he isn’t sure if he’d be ready for another year of that if he leaves Changhua for university. Donghyuck learns that he doesn’t like change, he’d prefer to keep everything the same if he could. Meeting Renjun was, and is, an exception.

Renjun, being _Renjun_ , obviously aimed for National Taiwan University. The top in the entire country. Him and Chenle, actually. Donghyuck doesn’t doubt for a second that they’d get in. YangYang is trying out for National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, which (if Donghyuck is being honest), doesn’t seem like the best choice given he’s a more artistic person, but Donghyuck isn’t going to judge how YangYang’s planning to cruise through life.

Not when Donghyuck, _himself_ , has zero idea what he wants to do when he’s older.

Jeno plans on going to Japan, with his mother sponsoring him. How he’s going to survive in Japan without knowing one bit of Japanese, Donghyuck has no idea. But seeing how serious Jeno has been about studying for the past months, Donghyuck knows he’d pick it up in no time. Jeno is like that, once he puts his mind to something, it’s hard to break him free from achieving it.

Jaemin decides to apply to a university in Kaohsiung after seeing the rest of the group aim for high universities. “Go big or go home,” he had said to Donghyuck when they were filling out their future career sheets. It didn’t seem like he was serious about it for a good month or so, but Donghyuck has been keeping tabs on the group’s scores and Jaemin actually hasn’t been doing too bad compared to the start of this year. Donghyuck doesn’t know what university Jaemin applied for, but he’s almost certain Jaemin will be able to make it.

It’s then that it suddenly hits Donghyuck. They’re all leaving him behind. With Renjun, Chenle and YangYang going to Taipei, Jaemin going to Kaohsiung, and Jeno going overseas to Japan, Donghyuck realises he’s being left behind in the town he’s grown up in. While he’s too afraid to venture out into the new world of the unknown, all his friends are willing to step outside their comfort zone for a chance of change and freedom.

Somehow, it makes Donghyuck think of himself as a coward.

After all, who else other than a coward, would be too afraid to leave their hometown in fear of loneliness. It’s ironic, to be honest, as he’s getting left behind by _staying_ in his hometown. It’s times like this where he’s jealous of his group of friends, who somehow have their entire life sorted out already. Donghyuck doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life riding on his father’s riches, but it really looks like that’d be the case now.

His phone on his bed rings and he peers over to see the contact name. Upon recognising the familiar name, he picks it up immediately.

“What’s up? Why are you calling so late at night?”  
  
His whole body tenses when he hears a sniffle come from the other end.

“Are you okay?” he whispers into the phone. “Do you need help? Where are you right now?”

“Can you meet me at the park? The one where we celebrated Jeno’s birthday?” Renjun’s voice is quiet over the phone.

“Yeah, of course.” Donghyuck throws his covers off and immediately goes to collect his jacket from behind the door. “Stay there, alright? Do you want me to stay on the line?” He double checks that his parents are soundly asleep, before slipping out of his house. It shouldn’t take long to reach the park, not with Renjun on the other end of the phone, crying.

“No, it’s okay,” Renjun says softly. Another sniffle. “Just, come quick.”

Renjun hangs up the call before Donghyuck could protest. His heartbeat calms down, after knowing that Renjun isn’t in danger whatsoever, but he still makes sure to get to the park as soon as he can. 

From afar, he sees Renjun’s crouched figure sitting on one of the park benches and slowly walks up to him. 

Donghyuck doesn’t even get to open his mouth, as the moment he sits down, Renjun begins to cry again.

He waits, until Renjun is ready to speak.

“I only know how to study,” he finally says between hiccups. “All I do is study. Ever since junior high all the way to high school. I’ve studied to not disappoint my parents who sacrificed so much for me. They said that all I needed to do was to get into National Taiwan University, but I still somehow screwed that up.” He slams a fist down besides him. “I still screwed it up!”

Donghyuck watches as Renjun’s body trembles.

Feeling useless, Donghyuck digs around in his pocket for some tissues. He pulls out a handful that look a bit used, but he still hands it to Renjun regardless. Renjun takes it, breaking out into a small smile. “Did you use this?” he asks, holding the tissues up. 

“I don’t think so?”

Renjun lets out a soft laugh. “Thank you,” he says as he wipes his eyes and nose with the (hopefully) unused tissues. Donghyuck stares at him.

“What?” Renjun snaps, glancing at him. 

It hurts seeing him like this. It hurts to see Renjun think that he’s not enough, that he’s failing everything. Donghyuck wants to tell him that the university that Renjun gets into doesn’t determine his worth, but he knows that Renjun might not appreciate that comment as of right now, so he holds himself back. But Renjun just looks so distraught drowning in his thoughts that Donghyuck can’t help but say something that he hopes would cheer him up, in one way or another

Donghyuck feels his mouth go dry. “No matter what university you go to…” He trails off as the words get caught in his throat and he restarts his sentence. “I have to tell you something.”

He waits for Renjun to say something, anything. But instead, he crumples up the tissues in his hand. “Don’t tell me you like me now,” he chokes out. Donghyuck can see the tears threatening to spill again.

“I do like you,” Donghyuck says, carefully, observing Renjun’s reaction. “But it seems like you already know.” 

Renjun nods, not looking at Donghyuck. “So what do you want to tell me, then?”  
  
Donghyuck doesn’t have anything to tell him. He has nothing that could cheer up Renjun, and now isn’t the time for jokes. He’s always been bad at words, finding more comfort in his actions instead, but he isn’t sure if Renjun wants to be touched right now. So instead, he just sits next to Renjun, to let him know that he’s not alone. That no matter what, Donghyuck will always be someone he could go to. Someone who will always be on Renjun’s side.

But how badly Donghyuck wants to bring Renjun closer to him. How he wants to wrap his arms around the smaller boy’s figure, to share the overflowing warmth coming from him, to the one who wishes to no longer be cold. How he wants to place his chin gently on Renjun’s shoulder, as Renjun soaks his hoodie wet with tears. How badly he wants to hold him, so tightly, as if he could disappear any second. What Donghyuck wants is to hold Renjun for a second, a second is long enough, and tell him through silent words that he loves him, that he’s doing amazing, and that everything will be okay.

But he finds it impossible. It’s hard to gather up the courage, and Donghyuck now learns that he is a coward in front of the one he likes. So instead he settles his hand on Renjun’s head, stroking his hair softly, with so much care and gentleness to not break him. And under the blanket of stars where they shared memories that he hopes they won’t forget, he wishes that Renjun could hear all the words he’s too afraid to say.


	2. two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s then that it hits him. He hasn’t been able to admit it for the past year, let alone the past six months, but Donghyuck is in love with Renjun. 
> 
> And he isn’t sure if he came to this realisation too late. 

Their results came out a week later.

Jaemin was able to get into the accounting program at the university in Kaohsiung he applied for, surprising both himself and his parents. “You really didn’t have any faith in yourself that you’d get in?” Donghyuck had asked when he called him screaming. Jaemin had then let out a string of words that Donghyuck had trouble making out, so he just nodded and hummed to make it seem like he was listening, before quickly hanging up. He’s proud of Jaemin, though. He’s done well.

Parting ways with Jeno ended up with the entire group becoming a sobbing mess in the middle of the airport with Jeno’s flight leaving in minus T minutes. Jeno successfully got into Hokkaido university and got accepted into the international relations program, which wasn’t much of a surprise. He gave them a week's notice of when he’d be leaving, and Donghyuck had thought that he was ready, but seeing Jeno walk through those gates broke the dam Donghyuck had built leading up to this moment. And so the moment Jeno was out of sight, the remaining five of them stood in a corner and cried until their eyes could shred tears no more. Jeno had texted when he landed in Japan later that day and called them cry-babies, but he didn’t deny that he cried on the plane too.

Chenle unsurprisingly got into the medicine program at National Taiwan University. Unable to wait, he took the next available train to Taipei after Jeno’s departure and bid the rest of the group (minus YangYang and Renjun) farewell. Donghyuck didn’t want to cry at Chenle’s goodbye speech, but he felt a hole in his heart being carved out when he realised he’s no longer going to be able to dot on his younger (self-proclaimed) ‘brother’ anymore. Needless to say, Donghyuck cried and Chenle made fun of him for it.

YangYang and Renjun both got accepted into National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, which was also in Taipei. YangYang took on computer science whilst Renjun decided to fall onto his backup plan, chemical engineering. But since they weren’t as eager as Chenle to part ways with Changhua yet, they stayed until the final week of break, before they opened up a new page in their lives. Well,  _ Renjun _ stayed, YangYang had to leave mid-way as his parents bought a house there and wanted him to go and check it out. Parting ways with YangYang was a lot easier than parting ways with Jeno and Chenle. No words were needed to be spoken, but YangYang still managed to reassure him that he’d come and visit. Or Donghyuck could go, if he had spare change for train tickets.

Today, he’s sending Renjun off. 

They sit on the platform, waiting for Renjun’s train to arrive. 

“Chemical engineering, huh?” Donghyuck says, breaking the silence.

Renjun raises an eyebrow. “Business, huh?”

Donghyuck shrugs. “I’m going to have to take over my father’s business one day. At least I’d have some knowledge on how to run things.”

“I keep forgetting you’re rich,” laughs Renjun.

“I’m not rich, I just live comfortably.”

Renjun slaps his knee. “Sure,” he says, leaning in. “That’s why you were able to spare 6,000 yuan for me.”

“When will the day come where you stop talking about how much money I have?” Donghyuck runs a hand through his hair.  
  
Renjun hugs his bag close to his chest. “It’s not a bad thing, it’s just that I sometimes still think it’s unfair that I never paid you back.”  
  
Donghyuck rubs his eyes. “I’ve said this like fifty times at this point. Don’t fret over it. It’s been half a year, you’ve got to let it go.”

Renjun rests his head on Donghyuck’s shoulder. “Well, I’m probably not gonna see you for a while. Why not get this off my chest now?”

Donghyuck tenses up. They’ve never been  _ this _ intimate before, the most they’ve ever done were hands on each other’s knees and Donghyuck’s surprise back hugs, even then, Renjun would push him off. He isn’t much of a touchy person compared to Donghyuck, so it’s a shock when he’s the one initiating touch. It’s always Donghyuck going up to him, not the other way around.

Renjun reaches over and laces his fingers with Donghyuck’s.

“Your train is coming soon,” Donghyuck says as he catches eye of the small digital clock hanging on the wall across from them. “10am, right?”  
  
Renjun hums, finally lifting himself off of Donghyuck’s shoulder. “Yeah, it should come any minute now.”  
  
Renjun blinks, before stating the obvious. “You’re the only one still staying by this lonesome town.”  
  
Donghyuck kicks the ground beneath him.“Yeah. I didn’t expect that, to be honest.”

They return to silence.

“Hey, Renjun?”

A small hum comes from besides him, signalling that Renjun is listening.

“Do you think... you’ll ever give me an answer?”  
  
Renjun is silent as he stares straight ahead, before turning his head slightly to look at Donghyuck. “What are you saying?” he chuckles softly, he seems nervous. 

Their gazes meet for a second, and Renjun looks away quickly. However, Donghyuck doesn’t miss the light blush painted across his cheeks.

The distant sound of metal rattling alerts the two that Renjun’s train has arrived. 

“Thank you for sending me off,” Renjun says as he stands up, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

_ ‘Do it now, Donghyuck,’  _ his self-consciousness tells him. But he can’t and he won’t. Instead, he pulls Renjun back by the arm.  
  
“You said you wanted to have matching bracelets with someone,” he manages to stutter out.

Renjun looks at him with a confused look on his face. “Donghyuck, my train—”

He drops a small bag into Renjun’s empty hand. “There’s two in here, bracelets I mean. Black and white. When you give the other bracelet to someone else, make a wish together. And when both of them break, the wish will come true.”

Renjun stares at the cloth bag. “Did you make this?”  
  
Donghyuck feels his face flush up. “I tried, it’s not as good as you think it’ll be. It’s for you and... the person you like. It’s a small gift for getting into uni, I suppose.”

Renjun doesn’t say much, but the smile on his face speaks thousands of words to Donghyuck. “Thank you,” he whispers, as the train sounds its horn. Donghyuck is unable to hear what Renjun says after.

Renjun gets on the train, making a signal with his hand that means ‘call often’, and Donghyuck is left alone on the platform.

Alone, in the small town of Changhua, where all his friends had left to chase their dreams.  
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck moves into the on-campus dorms, where he shares a small room with three other people. 

His roommates sure are... interesting. Under different circumstances, Donghyuck is sure he’d never befriend them.

Firstly, there’s Wong Yukhei. A tall, muscular male who hailed from Hong Kong, who also does nothing but lifts weights all day. Donghyuck doesn’t think he’s ever caught sight of him without his small dumbbells. He has never spoken to him properly before, as their schedules don’t line up much, but from their limited ‘good morning’, ‘see you later’ and ‘turn down the volume’ interactions, Donghyuck thinks Yukhei is a pretty neat guy.

Next up is Wong Kunhang. Donghyuck swears Kunhang never leaves the room, unless it’s for food or any other necessity. It was a bit worrying when Donghyuck first arrived in the dorms. He’d leave to go to classes, bidding a small ‘goodbye’ to Kunhang who stuck in his chair watching god-knows-what, and when he returned, the latter would be in exactly the same position as before. It’s a surprise how he hasn’t been kicked out yet, but the school still needs to earn money, he supposes. Kunhang is  _ paying _ to stay here and not attend classes, so sure, he can do whatever he wants to do. Somehow, Donghyuck’s gotten used to Kunhang just staying at their dorm. There’s no sense of privacy at all, but Kunhang doesn’t bat an eye whenever Donghyuck, or the rest of the boys, do their ‘business’. It was a bit awkward at the beginning, but somehow Donghyuck’s gotten used to it. He doesn’t want to know why, neither does he want to know how.

Lee Mark is probably the one who Donghyuck would most likely befriend if they had met earlier. An international student from Canada, whose parents decided at the last minute to move to Taiwan, who spends all his time  _ studying _ . If anything, Mark reminds him of Chenle, a lot. They don’t talk a lot, they can’t— really. Mark’s conversational Mandarin isn’t the best, it’s sometimes a bit hard to keep up with, but Donghyuck’s always willing to help. However, Mark seems to have fear and anxiety when speaking in a different language, so Donghyuck leaves him to be. Sometimes, he converses with him in his extremely limited English that he picked up from the last few months of high school. Mark doesn’t judge, thankfully, but Donghyuck knows that Mark would rather him not speak to him at all.

Despite ‘becoming friends’ with his roommates, it still gets a bit lonely, though. It’s not really the same without the group of friends he had grown up with. He still keeps in touch with YangYang. It’s almost impossible not to as the younger sends messages and photos to him all throughout the day as if he’s some type of online influencer and Donghyuck is his number one fan. Jeno has stopped contacting him as often as before, which is understandable. After seeing Mark’s 4am mental breakdowns, Donghyuck ultimately decided that Jeno probably needs some time to pick himself up in a completely new country. Jaemin pops in and out here and there, but much like Jeno, Donghyuck’s communications with him have died down a bit. It’s strange, really, as Donghyuck had thought he’d keep in touch with Jaemin the most. He hasn’t spoken to Chenle ever since that goodbye in Changhua, but he knows YangYang and Renjun still keep up with him, though he’s not too sure about Jeno and Jaemin. Perks of studying in the same city, he supposes. 

He lets his phone ring twice, before picking it up and putting it on speaker.

“You’re still awake?”

On the other side of the line, Renjun chuckles. “Of course. Why? Did you think I wouldn’t be?”

Donghyuck shrugs, even though he knows Renjun can’t see him. “Didn’t you say you had an assignment that’s due this week and your group members weren’t helping? YangYang said you stayed up pretty late yesterday, I thought you were gonna crash today.”

From across the room, Mark looks up from his books and shushes him.

Donghyuck rolls his eyes as Renjun replies to him. “Yeah, but that would mean I’ll miss out on our Wednesday night calls where I can rant to you. I have to find a way to let all that anger out, you said so yourself.”

He hears a door open and close from Renjun’s side of the phone. “Is YangYang back?” Donghyuck asks, his ears perking up.

“Yeah, but he looks like he just woke up from the dead. I’m not talking to him,” Renjun says. “He’s been coming back super late these days, it’s kinda worrying but he won’t say anything to me when I ask.” Renjun lowers his voice into a whisper. “Do you think you can check up on him?”

Donghyuck hums. “Sure, anything for YangYang. What’s it like rooming with him, by the way? It’s been a few months and I just realised I’ve never asked either of you.”

As YangYang and Renjun ended up in the same university, they decided to apply to be roommates. Luckily, their wishes were granted and now they share an on-campus dorm room. Renjun and Donghyuck made a promise to call every Wednesday evening, to just talk about their week or rant about anything that’s been bothering them. Sometimes, YangYang would join in on their Wednesday evening calls and they’d have a group discussion about whatever’s on their minds or watch a movie together. They haven’t watched a movie in a while, as the toll of the new life has started to weigh down on them, but Renjun and YangYang had promised that after their assignments, they’d have a Studio Ghibli marathon.

Renjun is silent for a moment. “I’ve learnt a lot about him that I didn’t think that I’d learn,” he says. “Also learnt a bunch of things I definitely  _ did not _ need to learn, but that’s the price of rooming with someone, I guess.” Donghyuck hears some shuffling on the other end. “But it’s nice, I’d rather room with YangYang than some random stranger. How’s your end? You have three other roommates, right?”

Donghyuck sighs, “Unfortunately. The room is super small too, so I normally study in the library. They’re really cool though, do you wanna say hi to them?”

Mark’s head snaps up and he narrows his eyes at Donghyuck. He shakes his head furiously, pointing to his open textbook.

“Sure?” Renjun says.

With his eyes trained on Mark, Donghyuck smiles. 

“Yukhei and Kunhang aren’t here right now. So say hi to Mark, he speaks English. Use your English skills.”

“Huh?!” Renjun sounds flustered as Donghyuck passes his phone to Mark, in which the latter reluctantly takes. 

“Hello?” Mark softly says into the phone.

A moment of silence passes and Donghyuck has to suppress the laughter bubbling up in his throat.

“Hi, I’m Renjun,” Renjun says quietly in English.

“I’m Mark. I’m Donghyuck’s roommate. Or one of them, at least.”

From then, Donghyuck drowns their voices out, his English skills aren’t good enough to keep up with whatever they’re saying. Instead, he focuses on how  _ soft  _ Renjun’s voice is, despite not speaking in his native language. It amazes Donghyuck sometimes, how talented Renjun is, even though the latter doesn’t believe it himself. It isn’t fair, how Renjun isn’t able to see how amazing he is through Donghyuck’s eyes. As he props up a pillow to rest his chin on, Donghyuck decides to make that his goal for this year, to make Renjun see who he is through Donghyuck’s eyes.

Mark passes the phone back to him, snapping him out of his daze, before returning back to studying without sparing Donghyuck a second glance.

“So, how was Mark?” Donghyuck asks.

“It was kinda awkward,” Renjun whispers. “But he seems nice.”

Donghyuck coughs. “Yeah, he is. Kinda. I don’t really talk to him much. If Yukhei and Kunhang are here next week, I’ll let you say hi to them.”

A low hum comes from the other end. “There’s no need. Let’s just talk, the two of us. And I guess YangYang sometimes too.”

“How could we forget about YangYang?” Donghyuck’s eyes glance over to the small digital clock Yukhei keeps on the edge of his bed. “You should head off now,” he says. “You’ve been pulling all nighters, I don’t want you to die.”

“I’m not tired. I want to talk to you more.”  
  
As if on cue, Renjun lets out a quiet yawn.

“Yeah, sure,” Donghyuck scoffs. “Go to sleep, okay? I’ll text you tomorrow.”

Renjun stays silent for a while, before ultimately agreeing. “Alright. Goodnight, Hyuck.” Another shuffle.

A soft smile finds its way onto Donghyuck’s face. “Goodnight, Renjun. Sweet dreams.”  
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck keeps his promise with Renjun and calls YangYang the following day. 

“How are you doing?” he asks the second YangYang picks up the phone. 

A whine comes from the other end of the phone. “Did Renjun ask you to call me?” 

Donghyuck stares at the cup of tea sitting on the table in front of him. “No,” he lies. “You two have huge assessments due this week and I know for a fact that you guys are pulling all nighters, so I’m just double checking that the next time I see you won’t be in a hospital.”

YangYang laughs. “I’m fine, thank you for checking up on me.”  
  
“If anything is troubling you, you can always talk to me. You know that, right?”  
  
YangYang quietly hums. “Yeah, I know. It’s the same for you too, okay? Come to me if you need to cry or whatever, even though you have Renjun. I can be a better listener than Renjun any day.”  
  
Donghyuck chuckles as he stirs the sugar in his tea. He catches sight of his roommate, Yukhei, walking into the cafe. “Sure,” he says, eyes trained on Yukhei. “Well, I hope you’re not too stressed. How’s your social life?”

Yukhei finally looks in his direction and beams once he sees Donghyuck beckoning him to come sit with him. The taller pays for whatever he has bought and makes his way to Donghyuck’s table. He sends Donghyuck a small smile after seeing the phone up his ear, and waits for him to finish his conversation. He plays with the paper straw in the meantime.

“I’ve made a few friends,” YangYang finally says. “Kind of. I think they’re nice, they borrow my pens sometimes. Daehwi is really fun, I think you’ll like him. He’s Chenle’s age too, I think Chenle and him would get along. There’s also Zeren. He’s really cool. He kinda reminds me of Jaemin. And there’s Linong who literally radiates big Jeno energy. And there’s Junkai. I feel like you’d get along with him.”

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. “Six months in and you’ve already replaced us, I see how it is.” He laughs as he hears YangYang’s loud protests echo through the phone. “I’m joking, calm down. It’s nice to know that you’re just doing fine in Taipei.”  
  
“You sound like my mom,” YangYang deadpans.

“I know,” Donghyuck sighs wistfully. “I got to go now, I’ll talk to you soon?”  
  
“Alright. Stay safe.”

Donghyuck hangs up and greets Yukhei, who’s moved onto staring at his cup of tea. “Hey.”

Yukhei’s head snaps up and he flushes. “Hey, sorry I was daydreaming. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Donghyuck waves a dismissive hand. “It’s fine,” he says. “Fancy seeing you here, though.”

“I came to prepare myself since I’m gonna have to power through the night. I have a midterm tomorrow.” He catches sight of Donghyuck’s face and continues. “Don’t worry, I won’t study in the room anymore, I’ll go to the library. I got a huge scolding from Mark last time.”

“Mark?!” Donghyuck asks, voice slightly rising. “How did he give you a scolding? His Mandarin isn’t really…” He trails off and makes an elaborate hand movement. 

“His Mandarin is actually a lot better than you think it is,” Yukhei says as the waitress brings over his coffee. He tells her a small ‘thank you’, before returning to their conversation. “I think he just keeps up the ‘I’m bad at Mandarin’ act to not talk to us. How else can he be getting such high grades if he can’t understand what the professors are saying?”

Donghyuck has never thought of that before. “You’re right,” he agrees, nodding his head. “Whoa, Lee Mark just hates us.”

Yukhei takes a sip of his coffee. “Maybe, or it’s probably because none of us ever leaves him alone when he studies.”  
  
“Why doesn’t he just go to the library?”

“He doesn’t like the library, apparently.”  
  
Donghyuck blinks. “Why?”

A shrug is the only answer he gets. “Don’t know, but I’m not gonna push him to tell me.”

Donghyuck stays silent, thinking. “How about the four of us go to the library for a study session tonight? You’re going anyway and I need to cram in some stuff. I’m sure Kunhang has nothing better to do too. We can somehow drag Mark with us against his will or whatever.”  
  
Yukhei looks like he’s considering it for a second. Either that or he’s thinking of ways to reject Donghyuck politely, which will ultimately result in Donghyuck getting embarrassed and never speak to Yukhei ever again. Thankfully, the taller purses his lips and nods, sending him a huge grin. “That sounds like a great idea, I’ll text Kunhang. Do you wanna go talk to Mark?”

Donghyuck thinks back to all the times he had asked Mark to hang out with him outside of school hours and him getting rejected every single time. “Sure,” he says, putting his phone back into his pocket. “But if he doesn’t show up it’s not on me.”

Yukhei laughs. “I got you. I’ll see you tonight then? 6?” He asks as he stands up from his seat.

“Alright, I’ll make sure to tell Mark.”  
  


* * *

  
“So, what are you studying for?” Kunhang asks as he leans over and takes a peek at the various different textbooks Mark has open. It’s taking up quite some space on the already tiny table they’re sharing and Donghyuck doesn’t even recall Mark mentioning a quiz or assessment recently.

Mark looks up for a brief moment. “Um, I’m just revising. I had trouble catching up with this week’s lectures so I’m going through them one more time.”

Donghyuck whistles. “That’s a lot of textbooks open for  _ just  _ revision.”

Mark doesn’t say anything and instead just tucks his head back down into his books. Yeah, Lee Mark may not be that fond of him. What a pity, especially after the whole ordeal Donghyuck had to go through to bring Mark here.

He sure did put up a fight when Donghyuck attempted to drag him to the library a few hours back. First, he pretended he didn’t understand what Donghyuck was saying, which led to Donghyuck calling him out on that bullshit after the conversation he had with Yukhei this afternoon. Then he started claiming that he was too tired to move so Donghyuck suggested that he’d piggyback him to the library. That somehow got Mark to agree to it and the two definitely made a grand entrance at the doors of the library. 

“Yukhei, do you want me to quiz you?” Donghyuck turns to look beside him, but instead finds an empty space. “Where did he go?” he deadpans. “The whole reason why we’re here is because of him.”

Kunhang digs through his bag and pulls out a box of pocky. “I think he went to the bathroom? Who knows.”

At the light sound of the pocky breaking as Kunhang breaks off a piece, Mark’s head snaps up. “Why are you eating?” he scolds in a hushed whisper. “We’re in a  _ library _ .” He places emphasis on the last word. “We’re going to get kicked out,” he seethes through his teeth.

“We’re all the way in the back,” Kunhang says absentmindedly. “We won’t get caught unless someone specifically looks for us.”

“You’re an idiot,” Mark bites at him.

“At least I acknowledge it.”

“The biggest idiot I know.”

“Idiots recognise other idiots.”

“If we get kicked out, it’s your fault—”

“What do you mean? You don’t even like coming to the library.”

Donghyuck’s heart almost jumped out of his chest as Yukhei’s voice booms from behind him.

“What is wrong with you all,” Donghyuck cries, clutching his heart. “Yukhei, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” he says, sitting back down in his designated seat. “Anyway, I got stuff from the vending machine.” He dumps an armful of chips and drinks onto the table. “Take your pick.”

Mark stares at the pile with wide eyes. “We’re gonna get kicked out,” he whispers, almost in disbelief. “We’re gonna be banned from ever entering the library. We’re never gonna be allowed ten feet near anymore.”

Donghyuck reaches out for a packet of chips, but immediately retracts his arm when Mark sends a glare his way. 

“We’re not allowed food in here,” Mark says in a hushed tone, shooting daggers at Yukhei. 

“We’re at the back, no one will notice,” the taller one says, opening up a chip packet. The smell of cucumber chips fill the air.

“That was exactly what Kunhang said,” Mark sighs, letting his head fall on the open textbook. “What is the problem with the two of you?”

Kunhang and Yukhei exchange high-fives and Donghyuck takes this opportunity to take the chips packet he wanted. 

“The first time I come to the library is with you three idiots and this is not the first impression I want the librarian to have of me,” Mark cries, hand reaching out for a carton of banana milk. “Thank you, Yukhei,” he sniffs, slouching down on his chair. “I don’t approve of this but it’s banana milk, so I can’t resist.”

“I didn’t know you liked banana milk,” Donghyuck pipes up, watching as Mark pokes the straw into the carton harshly.

“You don’t know anything about me,” Mark replies. “You don’t really talk to me, or Yukhei, or Kunhang. You’re always out or on your phone when you’re in the room.”

“I talk to Yukhei,” Donghyuck retorts. “But our classes don’t really align so it’s hard. Kunhang…” His gaze switches to the mentioned male who’s throwing M&Ms into Yukhei’s mouth. “Yeah, I don’t know.” He returns his gaze to Mark. “And don’t you hate me?” he asks.

Mark raises an eyebrow. “Hate you? No way. I’m just not good at talking to people and a language barrier just makes it worse. I don’t hate you, I’ve never even had time to get to know you.”

Donghyuck opens his mouth, just to close it again. “Okay, that’s understandable. Sorry for assuming things.”

Mark takes another sip of his banana milk. “It’s fine. We really did spend six months walking on eggshells around each other, hm?”  
  
Donghyuck nods his head slightly. Okay, maybe Lee Mark  _ doesn’t _ hate him and he’s been over-thinking things for the past six months. He really spent half a year not talking to Mark when he could have asked him for help with his work. 

Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees the familiar librarian’s assistant walk over to their table.

“Guys,” Donghyuck warns with wide eyes as he sweeps a majority of the snacks and drinks off the table and into his bag. “He’s coming.”   
“Who?” Kunhang asks, looking over Donghyuck. 

“Jaehyun, obviously. Who do you think?” Mark says, finally catching onto Donghyuck’s slight panic. He throws his banana milk into his bag and plucks the packet of M&Ms out of Kunhang’s hand. “We’re getting kicked out. I haven’t even been here for an hour and I’m now banned for the rest of my life.”

“Calm down,” Yukhei reassures, waving his arm at Jaehyun. “I know him.”

Mark looks as if someone just told him the moon was a projection made by the government. “Yukhei, what are you doing? We’re gonna get kicked out.”

“I’m talking to him.”

Mark looks between Yukhei and Jaehyun, before holding his head in his hands and the next thing Donghyuck hears is a muffled cry. He looks over at Kunhang and they exchange the same concerned look. 

“Jaehyun, what’s up,” Yukhei cheers once Jaehyun reaches their table.

Jeong Jaehyun, basically the campus’ IT boy. Attractive, smart, charming and whatever other positive synonyms you could use to describe another human. Donghyuck’s heard of him before, it's hard not to when you walk past music room two where he plays on the piano and a few handful of people join him outside the door. It’s a bit of a hassle when Donghyuck is in a rush to a class. He’s seen him before too, as Donghyuck camps out in the library often, but he’s never properly spoken to him. This will be a first.

“Yukhei.” Jaehyun nods, acknowledging the taller. His gaze then moves to the rest of the group. “And... Friends.”

Jaehyun’s voice is a lot lower than what Donghyuck had thought initially, but at the same time, it perfectly fits the face that he has.

“Hi,” Donghyuck greets.

Jaehyun stares at the soda Yukhei is clutching onto tightly and gives him a disappointed sigh. “You know you’re not allowed food or drinks in here.”

From beside him, Mark pipes up. “I told him that, he just never listens.”

Jaehyun sighs. “I know.” He gestures for Yukhei to hand over the soda and he does so, reluctantly. “Ms Chiu also told me that you guys have to leave. Broke the no food and drinks rule.”

Yukhei and Kunhang frown. 

“Did she really say that?” Kunhang asks. 

Jaehyun blinks in surprise at the sudden question. “Y-Yeah.” He stumbles over his words. “Yeah, it’s late anyway. You all live in the dorms, don’t you? The lights are gonna go out soon.”

Mark glances at the clock on the wall. “He’s right, we should go,” he says as he picks up his bag and books. He then casts a look to Jaehyun. “Are we… banned for life?”

Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows. “No? Just… today, and probably tomorrow. Or until she forgets who you guys are, I guess. She’s strict on rules.”

Yukhei pops a chip in his mouth and four heads turn to look at him. 

“Yep, we’ll be going now,” Mark says in a single breath, picking Yukhei’s books off the table, then shoving him out. “Bye Jaehyun, it was nice meeting you!”

Once outside, Mark hands the books back to Yukhei. “I can’t believe this. This is going to leave a mark on my record. I’m never gonna get a good job.” He lightly punches Kunhang’s arm. “I hate you all.”

With a mouthful of chips, Yukhei laughs. “That’s gonna leave a  _ mark _ . Get it?”

The next thing Donghyuck realises is that Yukhei’s shin is becoming a shade of dark red, and Kunhang and Donghyuck are holding back a raging Mark.   
  


* * *

  
A bond somehow formed between the four of them after the whole library mishap, especially with Mark. Donghyuck can now have a full conversation with him without feeling the need to awkwardly shuffle away at the end of every interaction they have. Yukhei and him still have conflicting schedules, but they talk whenever they can. Kunhang and Donghyuck have always been fine with each other, but now they also gang up on Mark and force him to take a break from studying to join them in their daily gaming sessions. Mark sucks at gaming, and Donghyuck keeps getting demoted in ranks. 

“Any plans for the break?” Kunhang asks to the open space around them.

No one answers. 

“I’m talking to all of you.”

Yukhei lets out a high-pitched whine from the top bunk. “I’m staying here. I have nowhere to go.”

“I’m staying too,” Mark pipes up from below him. “I think we all are, actually.” He casts a look at Donghyuck. “You’re the only one who’s leaving, Kunhang. Bring us back some snacks, please.”

Donghyuck’s phone rings. Once, then twice. All eyes are on the small item left alone on the table.

“Wake up, your boyfriend’s calling,” Kunhang says, flicking Donghyuck’s forehead.

Donghyuck swats his hand away as he picks up his phone. “I told you, he’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends. And you’re acting as if only one person ever calls me. Not everyone is my boyfriend, you know?”

Kunhang rolls his eyes. “Yeah, and the moon landing was fake.”

Donghyuck scoffs as he brings his phone to his ear. The rest of the group return to their conversation.

“Hyuck!” Renjun’s familiar voice echoes through the phone. “How are you today?”

“I’m good, how ‘bout you?”

“I’m fine. You have your break soon right?”  
  
Donghyuck hums. “Yep, next week. Why? Are you gonna come surprise me or something?” he teases. 

Renjun mumbles something incoherent. 

“Did you say something?” Donghyuck asks, eyes fully trained on the scene in front of him.

In the past five seconds that he had looked away, Yukhei had managed to accidentally spill the cup of water he was holding in his hands across Mark’s open book and the man himself. Mark is now sat frozen in his chair, with his entire back wet, and Donghyuck isn’t sure if he wants to be in the room when Mark goes all out on Yukhei.

Donghyuck excuses himself and leaves the room with Kunhang, who’s also not very keen on getting between the two when it may involve a pair of fists from Mark. It’s between Yukhei and God now, neither Donghyuck or Kunhang are willing to get involved.

Kunhang sends a strained look towards Donghyuck once they’re out in the hallway before going off to do god knows what.

“I’m back,” Donghyuck says into the phone. “Sorry, Mark was about to kill Yukhei. Didn’t want to intervene.”

“Shouldn’t you… help?”

“Nah, they’re fine. This happens often, don’t worry. You were saying something about my break?”

Renjun is silent for a moment. “You’ve gotten close to them.”

“Of course, they’re my roommates.”

Donghyuck hears footsteps on the other side of the line, then a few voices. Renjun mutes himself.

He waits, watching a group of students walk into their room down the hall loudly.

Renjun finally returns. “Sorry. Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like to come up here to Taipei? YangYang and Chenle said for me to ask you.”

“What about Jaemin?”  
  
“Ah, none of us have really been in close contact with Jaemin,” Renjun says quietly. “We were worried that it might be a little awkward so we didn’t really invite him.”

Donghyuck scratches his nose. “Yeah, okay. My break’s next week, I’ll buy a train ticket and tell you guys when I’ll get there.”

Donghyuck could feel Renjun smile on the other end. “Sounds great. We’ll come pick you up. Oh, and you can stay in our dorms, so don’t worry about booking a hotel or whatever.”

“Is that allowed?” Donghyuck asks. That definitely isn’t allowed in  _ his  _ university’s dorm rooms, but to be fair; their dorm rooms are tiny. There’s no way it could fit another person.

“Yeah, don’t worry. Remember how you said you wanted to go light up lanterns?”  
  
That was a long time ago, probably a few weeks before their college entrance exams. Renjun had mentioned going to Taipei to study and Donghyuck had mentioned that lantern lighting there must be fun, especially with all the scenery surrounding them. Turns out it was actually  _ Pingxi _ and not Taipei, but it’s close enough to Taipei that Donghyuck groups them all together.

“You still remember that?” Donghyuck raises an eyebrow, surprised.

“Of course, we can go to Pingxi and light up lanterns. Let’s fulfill your wish,” Renjun laughs.

Donghyuck thinks about it. He thinks about him and Renjun, writing their wishes on the lantern and letting it go together, and watch it fly through the red-orange clouds, furthering away from the sky. It’d be nice, Donghyuck concludes. It’d be a nice day.

“That sounds amazing,” he breathes out. “Now I can’t wait.”

“I can’t wait either,” Renjun lightly sing-songs. “It’s a plan then? I have to tell YangYang and Chenle.”  
  
“It’s a plan,” Donghyuck repeats. “I’ll text you guys when I buy my tickets.”

“Alright,” Renjun says. “I’ll see you then.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Renjun hangs up and Donghyuck pockets his phone, before peeking into his room to check if it’s safe enough for him to enter. Mark’s wearing another change of clothes and Yukhei is soaking the water up from the book with a handful of tissue paper.

“Ah, you’re back,” Yukhei comments when Donghyuck re-enters the room. “You got plans for the break  _ now _ ?”

Donghyuck nods. “Yeah, I’ll be going to Taipei to meet some old highschool friends.”

“Ah, that’s cute,” Yukhei muses. “Tell them I say hi and would love to meet them one day.”  
  
“Sure. I’ll make sure to do that,” Donghyuck quips, grabbing his bag off the floor. “Got to go to class now, make sure neither you or Mark burn the place down.”

Behind him, Mark grumbles. “That wasn’t me  _ or _ Yukhei! That was Kunhang and whatever-his-name is. Ming-something.”

“Minghao,” Yukhei recounts. “And he’s right.  _ I _ didn’t set fire to my bed, that was Kunhang!”

Donghyuck laughs as he walks out the door. “Anything can happen with the four of us,” he calls out behind him. “You both know that. Stay safe and don’t do anything stupid again.”  
  


* * *

  
It was nice being able to see his group of friends again, even if it’s only half of them. YangYang brought him around New Taipei City the moment his feet landed on Taipei ground, and didn’t stop until Donghyuck was threatening to fall asleep any second on the pavement. Chenle came around when YangYang brought Donghyuck to his room to rest, and Donghyuck immediately realised the noticeable shift in atmosphere when the younger entered the room. Renjun wasn’t able to come back until late evening, as he had a part-time job, so YangYang and Chenle kept him company until then. Chenle had brought beef noodle soup for them to eat and Donghyuck almost cried when he realised that Chenle brought it for  _ him. _

Renjun finally came back at around 8pm, and rushed to envelop both Chenle and Donghyuck in hugs. They ate, talked, played games until the late night and they all agreed that it was too late for Chenle to be wandering around in the streets himself. Renjun and YangYang had already set a bed out for Donghyuck, but he had offered for Chenle to take it, since he is a ‘responsible’ older brother, but YangYang interjected and said that Chenle can sleep on his, and that he’ll just throw some pillows on the floor and call it a bed. Chenle and YangYang argued over that for an extended period of time, before ultimately agreeing to  _ share  _ the bed. At that time, Donghyuck’s brain was already in shut-down mode, so he didn’t think much of it.

Now he’s on the train with Renjun to Pingxi, to light up the lanterns he had always wanted. 

Renjun is dressed nicely today. His hair is combed back into a comma hair hairstyle and he’s wearing a simple white shirt along with ripped black jeans. And an oversized blue plaid hooded coat jacket over his small figure to top it off. He’s also wearing fake gold circle framed glasses, which Donghyuck finds absolutely adorable and wishes he’d wear more of. Renjun’s style has changed a lot over the six months when Donghyuck has not been able to see him. He also seems to be a lot more confident in himself, which Donghyuck is happy for. He’s able to fully express himself where he is right now, something he wouldn’t have been able to do back home in Changhua.

“You look really nice,” Donghyuck says, out of the blue.

Renjun turns to look at him, cheeks painted a soft pink. “Ah, thank you,” he says, averting his gaze. “I tried to look good for today.”

Donghyuck wants to kiss the top of his nose. He looks  _ so  _ cute that it’s definitely illegal. All the flips Donghyuck’s heart did when Renjun smiled softly? He’s going to have to file a report and get the one and only Huang Renjun arrested. 

“You did well,” Donghyuck replies, probably after a too long of a silence to have it sound genuine. “You did well,” he repeats, hoping for it to not sound like he’s lying, because he’s  _ not _ . “You look amazing. I like your new style.”

Renjun scratches the back of his neck. The tips of his ears are red now. “Thank you,” he squeaks. “I wasn’t too sure about it, but I’m glad you like it.”

Donghyuck wants to tell him that he could pull off anything, but realises that it may sound a bit weird, so he decides to swallow his words. But he would though, Renjun. He could wear a trash bag and wander around the streets in it and Donghyuck would  _ still _ think he’s the prettiest person on the planet, because he  _ is  _ and no one could ever compare. Not in Donghyuck’s eyes, at least.

He’s starting to think the six months spent away from Renjun does almost little to no good on his end. It’s making him think of some crazy stuff regarding the other boy. Things he would be better off not thinking about when they live in two completely different cities.

“I think YangYang and Chenle have something going on,” Renjun says suddenly. 

Donghyuck blinks. “No way,” he gasps. “Oh my god. Are you sure?” he pauses. “But Chenle didn’t seem like he wanted to get into the same bed as YangYang yesterday night.”

Renjun furrows his eyebrows. “I think,” he begins. “I think they’re both in denial. That’s what’s happening.”

Donghyuck is already sat down, but he  _ still _ feels like he needs to sit down. “Hold on, didn’t Chenle dislike YangYang?”

Renjun shrugs. “Enemies to lovers? That’s a pretty popular trope.”

Donghyuck holds Renjun by his shoulder and begins to shake him gently. “No way. YangYang hasn’t told me  _ anything _ , but at the same time, I think you’re onto something. Oh my god, my best friend likes Chenle.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Renjun asks, slightly lifting the corners of his mouth. “I think they’d look cute together,” he chuckles. “They kinda suit each other. don’t they?” He pinches Donghyuck’s cheek. “What are you so worked up for?” he laughs.

Before Donghyuck could get a word in, the train announces that they have arrived at Pingxi..

“That’s our stop,” Renjun states after it, flashing Donghyuck a bright smile as he takes his hand. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Renjun’s hands are no longer cold to touch.

The slightly cold wind brushes up against Donghyuck’s exposed skin the moment they walk out of the station. “It’s a bit cold,” he says, rubbing his hands together. “I thought it’d be a lot warmer.” He’s wearing a simple, thin jacket over his shirt. It’s not really the best fit for the weather today. A sense of  déjà  vu washes over him. 

“You’re always like this,” Renjun sighs, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I would expect you to look at the weather forecasts before you leave the house a year later, but I should’ve known better.”

Donghyuck grins. “This has happened before?” He knows it has, but it had been such insignificant events (if you could call it that) that he didn’t expect Renjun to still remember. Not after a year.   
  
Renjun nods. “Lots of times, yes.” He digs into his bag and pulls out a checkered scarf. His gaze flickers between the scarf in his hands and Donghyuck, before blushing a bit and asking; “May I?”

Donghyuck feels his face heat up. “Of course.”

Renjun carefully wraps the scarf around his neck, leaning in  _ awfully _ close, but it’s not like Donghyuck’s complaining. He feels like he could melt any second now.

“Let’s go,” Renjun says, averting his gaze after finishing wrapping the scarf around Donghyuck’s neck. He catches a whiff of Renjun’s scent. The older boy takes Donghyuck’s hand again, but holds it tighter this time. He pulls Donghyuck along behind him.

“Is this a date?” Donghyuck asks, eyeing his hand in Renjun’s.

Renjun says nothing, but laces his fingers with Donghyuck’s. “I don’t know,” he says quietly, in an almost teasing tone. He looks back with stars in his eyes. “You tell me.”

Donghyuck bites back a small smile as Renjun begins to talk about how good the food is here in Pingxi, but Donghyuck’s having a hard time concentrating on what he’s saying. Too distracted by the closing distance in between them.

‘This is nice,’ he thinks, burying his face into Renjun’s scarf. ‘It’d be nice to get used to this.’  
  


* * *

  
“The sun’s starting to set,” Donghyuck notes as he looks up into the orange sky. “Let’s get going?” He tugs on Renjun’s hand.

Renjun looks up, mid bite of his egg roll. “I thought we were gonna go when it’s dark?” He asks, tilting his head to the side and blinking up at him innocently.

Huang Renjun will be the death of him. There’s no denying it.

Renjun rips half of the egg roll and shoves it into Donghyuck’s mouth. “Actually, it might get dark when we reach the top of the mountain. We can get going now.”

“Isn’t it kinda dangerous to walk down mountains at night?” Donghyuck asks. “I mean, it’s already too late, but just saying.”

Renjun shrugs and begins the walk up. “There’s a cable car we can take when we come back down, to make the trip quicker.”

Donghyuck rushes to follow him. “Why can’t we take it up?”

Renjun pauses. “Well,” he starts. “I want to spend more time with you.” The grip he has on Donghyuck’s hand grows tighter. “Would that be okay?” he asks.

Donghyuck could hear the thumping of his heart in his ears.  _ Renjun _ wants to spend more time with  _ him _ . And who is he to refuse such a request? Not Donghyuck, for sure. Not when all Donghyuck ever wants to do is to spend time with him.

“Of course it’d be okay,” Donghyuck mutters, after composing himself. “We still have so much to catch up on. I’m not leaving Taipei until I fill you in about what I’ve been doing for the past six months, whether you like it or not.”

Renjun smiles. “I’m glad,” he says. “So tell me, what have you been up to for the past six months?”

And so Donghyuck talks. He talks about his classes, and assignments, and the people who he sits next to during lectures. He recounts all the memorable events he and his roommates have gone through, such as Yukhei declaring that he was hungry in the dead night and him and Donghyuck sneaking out to bring back some snacks, or when Kunhang had brought back instant noodles and somehow set fire onto the lid, which resulted in a burn on his bed. Renjun laughs and makes comments about his roommates about how they suit Donghyuck perfectly. Renjun then talks about how the last six months went for  _ him _ . 

Donghyuck learns that Renjun’s social circle after leaving highschool hasn’t been big at all. He only really hangs around YangYang, and the group of friends that the latter had formed from his classes. Donghyuck learns that Renjun stays alone in their dorm room for the majority of the day, as YangYang is mostly out either with his friends or study group. 

“You should go out and meet some people,” Donghyuck pipes up. “Join a club or something? I’m sure you have an art club. I know you like art. Painting, drawing, sculpting, you can do all of those.”

Renjun chuckles. “I don’t think you’re one to talk, Lee Donghyuck,” he taunts with a grin on his face. “From everything you’ve told me so far, it seems like your only friends are your roommates.”

Donghyuck raises his eyebrows, not expecting such a clapback. “Whoa, I did not come here to be attacked,” he comments. “But you’re not wrong. Maybe we should  _ both _ join our uni’s respective art clubs.”

Renjun scrunches up his nose. “You? And art? You’d be better off playing an instrument.”

Donghyuck feels like he should take offence to that, but he can’t take anything that comes out from Renjun’s mouth seriously, he looks too cute in his circle glasses. It’s almost as if a puppy is trying to scare him off.

“That’s mean,” Donghyuck pouts, letting go of Renjun’s hand. “I’m not holding your hand anymore.”

Renjun snatches it back. “You’re gonna hold my hand, I don’t care if you don’t like it,” he huffs.

Donghyuck’s face heats up, before feeling bold and decides to lace their fingers together. “Who said I didn’t like it?”

Renjun immediately ducks his head down. He isn’t looking at Donghyuck anymore, but the redness creeping up his neck tells him that he’s blushing too.

“Did I make it weird?” Donghyuck carefully asks. He isn’t sure, but he’s not willing to take the chances. 

Renjun shakes his head. “No, of course not. I was just wondering…” he trails off. 

“Hm?”

They’re almost at the top of the mountain now. A few more metres then they’ll see the assigned lantern lighting area.

“It’s just…” Renjun let’s go of Donghyuck’s hand.

He frowns at the loss of warmth. 

“Do you really like me?” Renjun asks. His gaze is meeting everything but Donghyuck’s.

“Yeah, I do,” Donghyuck replies, with almost little to no hesitation, but he isn’t sure if that’s the answer Renjun wants to hear. 

Renjun stuffs his hands inside his pockets and begins walking again. Donghyuck trails behind him, not too quickly, but not too slowly either.

“Are you sure?” Renjun questions, loud enough for Donghyuck to hear. “Or do you just like the Renjun who you’ve made up in your head?’

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘the Renjun I made up in my head’? That Renjun and this Renjun in front of me are the exact same person.”

Renjun stops walking momentarily, before continuing. “But there’s so many sides you don’t know about me. Like…”

Donghyuck listens.

“For example, I’m actually not that good at socialising, I freeze up when I have to talk to somebody, or somebody talks to me.”

“Mhm.”

“And I get really grouchy when I get woken up in the middle of the night. One time I yelled at YangYang because he came back at 2am. 2am, can you believe that?”

“He’s always been a night owl,” Donghyuck pipes up behind him.

“And all I do is study, jump from part-time to part-time to earn my living expenses, and on top of  _ that _ I also spend money carelessly,” Renjun lists. He twirls around to face Donghyuck, probably to make it more dramatic. “So tell me Lee Donghyuck, do you still like me?”

“Of course,” he responds, maybe too quickly for it to mean anything to Renjun. 

Renjun’s face falls immediately. “You answered that so quickly!” he exclaims. “You have to think about it more,” he huffs out as he crosses his arms. He turns back around and begins walking again. “Tell me when you’ve  _ properly _ thought about it.”

Donghyuck catches up to him. “I don’t get what’s wrong, though?” He cocks his head to the side. “I mean, I’ve already seen you cry that day at the park. I’ve seen you get angry when you had that fight with Chenle. Remember when you fell asleep on me on that bus one day and drooled all over my shoulder? Yeah, that too—”

Renjun shoves his shoulder.

“Basically, I’ve seen all the different sides of you and I  _ still _ like you. I don’t get why you still have to ask me that.” He shrugs.

Renjun stares at him, mouth agape. “You’re insufferable,” he cries. “How can you say that so casually?” He runs off, holding his hands to his ears. “You can’t just say that!”

“I’m telling the truth!” Donghyuck calls from behind him. 

Renjun runs off and Donghyuck makes it a self-appointed race between the two of them to see who’d get to the top first. Renjun didn’t accept nor reject his feelings this time round, but it doesn’t matter to Donghyuck. That shy smile on Renjun’s face when Donghyuck said he still likes him is enough for him. And it’ll be enough, until Renjun decides to give him a proper answer.  
  


* * *

  
“We write our wishes here, right?” Renjun asks from the opposite side of the huge paper lantern.

As Donghyuck paid for the lantern, the vendor smiled at them and said that they looked like a cute couple. Neither of them corrected her, and Donghyuck wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Renjun seemed unbothered by the comment, however. 

“I think so,” Donghyuck replies, drawing a huge full sun on the middle of the empty canvas. “I just drew a big sun,” he says, staring at it. “I think you can put whatever you want, to be honest.”

Renjun’s head peeks out from behind the paper lantern. “You  _ what _ ? Can I see?”

Donghyuck pushes him back before Renjun could catch a glance at what he’s written on his side of the lantern. “Hey, no peeking! I thought we agreed that this would be strictly confidential!”

Renjun puffs out his cheeks before disappearing behind the lantern again. “Fine, I guess you won’t know what I wrote here.”

Donghyuck shifts his weight on his other foot. “Why would I want to know? Am I on it?” 

Renjun is silent. “I don’t know,” he teases.

“Hey, now I  _ need  _ to know what you’ve written.”  
  
“Nope, you wouldn’t show me yours. I guess you’ll find out if it comes true though.”

“How would I know if it comes true?”

“Trust me, you will.”

Donghyuck writes another batch of wishes for the rest of the year; ‘ _ Go on a trip with my roommates, don’t fail classes, talk to dad more.’ _

He pauses as he lifts his gaze up. ‘ _ Tell Renjun…’  _ he writes down, before biting his tongue as he crosses the two words out.

“Renjun?”

“Hm?” Renjun hums from the other side of the lantern.

Donghyuck holds his breath. “I…’ he begins. “I really,  _ really _ like you, Huang Renjun. A lot, I like you a lot.”

He wants to hit himself. Why did he have to say it so many times? But he continues.

“One day, I’ll make you mine. I’m gonna make you fall for me like how I’ve fallen for you. Even if it means I’ll have to wait for years.”

His confession lingers in the air. 

He can’t see Rejun’s face right now, and he isn’t sure if he wants to. Donghyuck’s confessed multiple times already, twice actually, but somehow  _ this _ confession feels different. It feels like a make or break moment, one wrong word and their friendship (relationship?) would crumble.

“Do you want an answer?” Renjun softly asks. “I can give you one right now.”

Donghyuck’s heart thumps loudly in his ears. That isn’t supposed to be the response Renjun gives him. Not now, at least. But he could get an answer, one that he’s been waiting for for the past six or so months. At the same time, Donghyuck isn’t sure if he  _ wants _ an answer, because he’s scared. He’s scared that he knows what Renjun will say. 

“No,” he decides. “It’s fine. I didn’t ask you out anyway, so you can’t reject me. Just take it like how you’ve taken the past confessions.”

Renjun doesn’t say anything more, neither does Donghyuck.

“Are you ready to let it go?” Donghyuck mumbles after a short silence as he finishes off writing his last and final wish. 

Renjun nods, and they both let go. Eyes trailing the paper lantern as it flies, furthering away into the night sky.

“Renjun?”

The latter hums from besides him, not taking his eyes off the fluttering lantern. 

“Do you think in another universe I’ll have the guts to ask you to go out with me?”

Renjun thinks for a moment. “Like a parallel universe?” he asks.

“Like a parallel universe,” Donghyuck confirms.

The lantern is growing smaller and smaller now, and Donghyuck can barely see it, with the exception of the bright flame in contrast to the night sky.

“Yeah,” Renjun finally replies. “I hope you will.”  
  


* * *

  
“We should go to Japan later this year.”

All three of them pause in the middle of their conversation and snap their heads to face an unbothered YangYang lying on his bed, eating spoonfuls of Nutella. 

Renjun tenses up at the sudden suggestion, sitting up straighter and hands landing in his lap. 

A question lingers in the space around them and Donghyuck decides to ask for the three of them. “Why?” 

YangYang casts them a look. “To visit Jeno, why else?’

Chenle squints at him. “I haven’t talked to Jeno in months. Have you?” he questions.

YangYang shrugs, placing another spoonful in his mouth. “Nope.”

Chenle looks to his left, where Renjun and Donghyuck are sitting. “Have either of  _ you _ spoken to Jeno in the past week or so?”

Renjun shakes his head as Donghyuck lets out a forced laugh, followed by a “No.”

“Isn’t it weird to just visit Jeno out of the blue?” Renjun mumbles. “Like, if I was Jeno, I’d be pretty weirded out. No offence. I don’t think it’s such a good idea to go to Japan.” He glances around the room. “Also, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. Second year is always a lot more stressful than first year, I don’t think it’ll be a good idea to… you know, go to Japan right now,” he trails off. 

Chenle ignores him and drums his fingers on the desk. “Going to Japan will be nice,” he muses. “But I think going to visit Jeno is a bit far. We don’t even know where he lives, and I’m not talking to him for the first time in like four months to ask where he lives now. That’s weird.”

“Fine,” YangYang concludes. “Let’s go to Japan later this year and  _ not  _ visit Jeno, but if we’re in the area where he goes to uni and accidentally bump into him, we’re saying ‘hi.’”

Chenle throws the pillow at his feet at him. “Why does it sound like you’re setting up some kind of plan?” he interrogates.

The pillow hits YangYang in the face and he does a dramatic fall onto the bed, releasing the Nutella in his hands. Donghyuck has never seen Renjun move faster before, but the boy is on the edge of the bed in an instant and scoops up the bottle of Nutella before it could  _ somehow _ stain YangYang’s bed.

“I’ve told you to stop eating on your bed like five hundred times already,” Renjun scolds, screwing the lid back on the bottle. He places it on the desk and sits back down next to Donghyuck. “Next thing you know, your bed will become ant-infested. And I won’t be helping you clean it up.” He folds his arms across his chest.

YangYang removes the pillow from his face and sits back upright. “I don’t even make a mess on my bed. I clean up the crumbs and I wash my sheet like every two days because of you. Like hell it’s going to get infested.”

Donghyuck pipes up from besides Renjun. “You eat on your bed?” he says in disbelief with a disgusted look on his face. “I knew you were messy but I didn’t think you were like this.  _ I  _ don't even eat on my bed.” This must be what Renjun meant when he had told him he had learnt things about YangYang he wouldn’t have known without living with him. 

“What are you gonna do now?” Chenle attacks. “Walk around with shoes in the house?”

YangYang throws the pillow back at Chenle. “Why are you all attacking me! None of you said a thing when I was peacefully eating! It’s only when Renjun started saying stuff you all did. You’re brainwashed, I tell you,” he accuses, pointing a finger between Donghyuck and Chenle. “I don’t understand why Renjun was so quick to move, Nutella is literally a solid so it’s not even gonna spill or stain my sheets.”

Donghyuck deadpans. “It  _ will _ stain your sheets. And if you have guests over when you have Nutella stains on your sheets, they are not gonna be amused.”

YangYang widens his eyes at the realisation of what Donghyuck meant. “You have a point,” he says slowly. “I guess Renjun did save me.”

“If this is saving you, the only thing I do everyday  _ is _ saving you,” Renjun sighs. “Life is hard.”

“It sure is,” YangYang says, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Especially when you live with me.”

Donghyuck hears Chenle sigh beside him and mutter something underneath his breath. He couldn’t hear him, but with the conversation he had with Renjun on the train a few days back, he may have an idea. He tries to bite back a smile.

“What are you smiling about?” Renjun whispers to him, with a hint of amusement in his voice. 

Donghyuck lightly shoves him back. “Just thinking about what you told me that day on the train, regarding those two.” He does a small motion towards the duo.

Renjun raises his eyebrows and mouths an ‘I see’ before leaning in. “I told you, didn’t I?”

“I’m starting to believe it,” Donghyuck smiles.

“Good, but make sure to act surprised when they reveal whatever secrets they have.”

“Of course, who do you take me as?”

“What are you two whispering about over there?” YangYang asks, squinting his eyes towards the duo. “I don’t like secrets being kept from me.”

“No one will tell their secrets to you with your loud mouth blabbering to every second person,” Chenle teases, poking his tongue out.

“Okay, okay, enough about me,” YangYang cries. “Back to the main topic.” He raises both eyebrows. “Japan? How does that sound?”

Chenle hums. “Sure, I guess. Why not?”  
  
“Sounds like fun,” Donghyuck comments, stretching out his back. “Should we do it during our end of year break?”

“When else would we do it?” YangYang says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“I probably won’t be able to go,” Renjun quietly says. “Plane tickets are expensive.”

The group goes silent.

Donghyuck is the first one to speak. “But you have a job, right?”

Renjun looks at him as if he had birthed a third eye on his forehead. “It’s a part-time job, Donghyuck.”

Donghyuck glances at Chenle, in which the latter shrugs, then back to Renjun. “But if you save up?”

Renjun lets out an exasperated sigh and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, save up to go on a trip to Japan for like a week or something.  There's much left after all the expenses I have to pay for myself ,” he scoffs.

Chenle jumps in immediately, pulling Donghyuck back by the arm. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way, Renjun!” he says quickly, probably sensing the growing tension in the room.

“Yeah, I can always pay for your end of the trip if you wa—”

Chenle squeezes his arm and Donghyuck lets out a high pitched yelp. “What’s that for?” he cries, slapping Chenle’s thigh. 

“I’m gonna go get a drink of water,” Renjun announces, leaving the room. 

The moment he’s out of earshot, Chenle smacks Donghyuck’s chest. “Why would you say that?” he seethes.

“What?”

“Chenle’s saying don’t do that anymore,” YangYang pipes up from the bed. 

“Don’t do what?” 

“You can’t be this stupid,” Chenle sighs. “Just—” His gaze flies upwards as Renjun returns to the room. 

“YangYang we’ve got to go grocery shopping again, these two parasites have been inhaling everything in our fridge.”

“I went shopping four days ago,” YangYang mumbles under his breath.

“Who are you calling a parasite?” Chenle pouts. 

Renjun sits down next to him, away from Donghyuck. “You, of course,” Renjun says with a smile on his face.

For the rest of that evening, Renjun barely spares a single glance at him.  
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck throws himself on Mark’s bed first thing when he walks into his dorm room. 

“Welcome back,” Mark calls from his desk. “How was Taipei?”

“It was fun,” Donghyuck says in the pillow, legs kicking up behind him. “We ate good food, caught up with them, and had five nights worth of sleepovers.” He sits up and brings the pillow close to his chest, resting his chin on it as he looks at Mark’s back that’s facing him. “It was really fun.”

“Well, aren’t you giggly today,” Kunhang comments, entering the room. His hair is wet and he has a small towel hanging off his shoulders. He takes one look at Donghyuck before slamming down onto Mark’s bed, next to him. “Did something good happen?” he teases, squeezing the pillow Donghyuck’s hugging.   
“Nothing weird happened!” Donghyuck protests, pulling the pillow away from him. “I just had fun with friends, that’s all.”

Kunhang pushes Donghyuck down into the bed. “Sure, whatever you say.”

From behind them, Mark deadpans. “Can you two not do that on my bed?” he asks, staring at the two rolling around and making a mess out of his sheets. He averts his gaze onto the small clock on the desk. “What time is Yukhei meant to come back anyway?”

“He said 6pm latest,” Kunhang says, stretching out his arms, looking like a cat who just woke up. “And then tomorrow we have one last day of break before we go back to classes!”

“You barely even go to class,” Mark points out. “Anyway, it’s been so boring without you or Yukhei,” he says to Donghyuck. “I didn’t even know I needed the two of you guys to get through this boring life of mine. Guess you never know how important something is to you until you lose it.” He shrugs.

“Are you calling me  _ boring _ ?” Kunhang gasps, bringing a hand to his chest. “I hate it here. I did not burn up my bed for you to call me  _ boring _ .”

“Should we do something tomorrow?” Mark asks, changing the subject, completely ignoring Kunhang. “Neither of us has stepped outside this stinky room for a good week, it’s getting quite stuffy in here.”

“That’s on you guys,” Donghyuck chuckles. “But yeah, sure. Should we text Yukhei to let him know?”  
  
“Nah, just let him find out when he comes back,” Mark quickly dismisses. “Are we sure he said 6pm latest? He told me he’d be back by three and it’s four-fifty right now.”

“Why are you so worked up?” Kunhang laughs at him.

“Because I miss the whole gang,” Mark responds. “Wait, that was embarrassing to admit.” He hides his face in his hands. “Erase that, let’s backtrack.”

“Awh,” Donghyuck cooes at him. “I can’t believe you didn’t like us at the start, now look at you. All in love with us.”

“For the last time,” Mark says. “I didn’t not like you at the start, I just never talked to any of you.”

“That’s kinda the same thing,” Kunhang mumbles. “You didn’t talk to us because you didn’t like us.”  
  
“When did I ever say that?”  
  
“You didn’t need to.”

“What does that even mean?” he cries, diving towards them with a pillow.  
  
As if on cue, Yukhei walks in on them. “Are we having WWE in here?” he asks, staring at Mark smothering the two in pillows. “I’m too tired to headlock someone right now, can we do this another time?”

“You’re back!” Kunhang excitedly yells from underneath a pillow. “Mark was—”

Mark presses harder onto the pillow.

“Dude, you’re gonna kill him,” Yukhei says, placing his bag down onto the desk. 

“We’re planning on going out tomorrow,” Donghyuck alerts Yukhei. “You down for it?’

Yukhei scrunches up his face. “Tomorrow? I kinda just wanna sleep—”

A series of groans and boos cut him off.

“But for you guys, sure,” he finishes rolling his eyes. “There was no reason to boo at me,” he pouts. 

“There’s always a reason to boo at you,” Donghyuck smiles. 

Yukhei repeats what he had said in a mocking tone, before plopping himself onto Mark’s bed too. “I’m gonna take a nap, don’t jump on me.” 

“Can you not do it on my bed? Go back to yours,” Mark scolds. 

“No can do Canada boy,” Yukhei singsongs with his eyes closed. 

“I’ll jump on you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”  
  


* * *

  
“You’re not going to fail,” Donghyuck says, digging through his drawers, looking for a pen and paper. “I swear on my life.”

“How would you know!” Renjun cries on the other side of the line. His voice vibrates through the room. “I didn’t include  _ anything _ ! No specifics, no evidence. Nothing. I didn’t even get the chance to finish because I stayed back a few extra hours after work and mid-typing up the assignment I fell asleep and it auto-submitted! ”

Donghyuck bites the inside of his cheek. “Renjun, breathe. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

“You don’t understand,” Renjun sighs. “I don’t know. Uni is just so different from what I’m used to. YangYang seems to be doing better than me right now too…” he trails off. “Everyone is doing well but me.”

“Don’t say that,” Donghyuck scolds. “Look, it’s the last assignment, yeah? Your final one before first year ends. I’m sure your other assignments will bump it up. You’ve got to relax.”

“I don’t think you understand, Donghyuck.” Renjun’s voice is barely above a whisper. “I’ve been so stressed lately too. Everything is so hard. Tuition fees are so expensive. Food and other living expenses cost a lot too. And I feel bad whenever YangYang treats me out to stuff, it’s not fair on him. I barely have enough to just get by, but I can’t take on another part-time job, I’m so close to failing my classes.” A second passes. “I’m such a failure.”

It’s then Donghyuck realises that Renjun is crying.

“Renjun,” he speaks softly into the phone. “Renjun, don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry,” he sniffles. “It’s just that things have been kinda hard. I don’t want to repeat the class ‘cause I’ll have to pay for the same class again or get kicked out of my program. I don’t think you’ll understand, though.”

“Hey!” Donghyuck laughs. “That's uncalled for.”

Renjun doesn’t laugh with him.

“It’s true, though. You have the money to pay for tuition like five times,” he shoots. “That’s probably why you don’t bother with classes.”

Donghyuck isn’t one to take offence to words, but confusion floods him. He  _ has  _ been bothering with classes. He studies with Mark at the library every Tuesday and Friday of the week and if he has something he doesn’t understand, he’d approach his professor. Something high school Donghyuck would not believe if you went back in time and told him. 

Donghyuck dismisses those thoughts. “Renjun, are you okay?”

“Of course I'm not okay,” Renjun snaps. “But how can you possibly understand when you have got everything handed to you since you were born and your future secured?”

Donghyuck isn’t sure what he should say, so he says the most obvious thing to him. “Do you want me to lend you some money?”

“What?”

“Maybe not lend. You don’t have to pay me back—”

“What am I?” Renjun’s voice hardens. “Some kind of charity case?”

Donghyuck scrambles to his feet, his chair scraping the floor. “That’s not what I meant! I’m just worried for you!”

“You think I can’t take care of myself?” 

Donghyuck feels light-headed. “Renjun, you  _ know _ I don’t mean that.”

“That’s what you’re implying,” he counters, bitterness filling his voice. “Why do you even bother to open your mouth? All you say are dumb things anyway.”

Donghyuck gives Renjun one last chance. “Renjun, I know you’re stressed, and I’m here for you to rant to, but this isn’t the way to go.”

“What do you know?” Renjun hisses. His voice is loud, and Donghyuck has to rip his phone away from his ear. “You’re just a spoilt, rich kid.”

Donghyuck snaps. “Okay, so you’re going to comment on  _ my  _ financial status, but I can’t on your’s?”

“You have money!” Renjun cries. 

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Donghyuck counters as he runs his fingers through his hair, feeling his blood pressure rise. 

Renjun scoffs. “Maybe not to you.”

“Tell me then, Huang Renjun. When have I ever showed off my riches, huh?”

Renjun stays silent.

“Exactly. So can we not have this fight?” Donghyuck begs. “The Japan trip is in a month.”

Renjun laughs dryly. “Has YangYang not told you? I’m not going.”

What? YangYang never told him anything. 

“Why?”

“I don’t have the money,” Renjun heaves impatiently. “I thought we made that clear the first time we talked about this.”

Donghyuck’s blood runs cold. “I said I’d pay for you, didn’t I?”

“Stop pitying me!” Renjun’s voice is jumping octaves again. “Do you see me as a beggar or something? I don’t want your money!”

Donghyuck paces around the room. “I’m not pitying you, Renjun. I’m just doing what another friend would do,” he says softly. 

That comment seems to have made Renjun even more upset. “Any other friend would just listen to me rant! And definitely not give me their money.”

Donghyuck stares at Kunhang’s anime posters hung up on his side of the room. “Then what do you want me to say?” he asks in a whisper.

Renjun doesn’t reply instantly and Donghyuck thinks he might have not heard him.

“I have to go,” Renjun quickly says, before hanging up.

The beep signaling the end of the call brings Donghyuck back to reality. From the corner of his eye, he sees Yukhei cautiously peek into the room. He has no more energy to ask him if he had overheard anything.

“Coward,” Donghyuck hisses, glaring at Renjun’s contact name on his phone. 

Yukhei walks over to Donghyuck and wraps his arms around him, engulfing him into a hug. It’s a random gesture, but Donghyuck does nothing but rest his chin on Yukhei’s shoulder. No words are spoken between them, just the warmth of Yukhei’s hug telling him that he did nothing wrong.   
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck drowns himself in schoolwork. He doesn’t want to think about it, he doesn’t want to talk about it. It’s no secret that Yukehi told his other two roommates what had gone down that Wednesday evening, but luckily for Donghyuck, neither of them pried too hard for information, just a simple; “You doing fine?” and “Don’t overwork yourself,” and the two were on their way.

Donghyuck wishes he could say the same about Yukhei, though. 

The older one has way too much empathy in his blood. He may look like he’d beat you up just because you met eyes with him, but Donghyuck learns much later on that he’d never hurt a fly. He’d beat you up if you hurt a fly, though.

Yukhei checked up on him every day after that phone call he accidentally overheard. Turns out he had to grab his sports bag that day, but decided against it after hearing Donghyuck’s voice elevating from the other side of the door.

The taller would go up to Donghyuck and try to make it not seem like he was there for a certain reason, and Donghyuck appreciates the gesture, but he’s already made it clear that he doesn’t want to talk about it.

Thankfully, Mark pulled him aside after a week of pestering and the advances stopped not too long after. Donghyuck made sure to go up to Mark after and thank him, but Mark just gave him a sad look and told him it’s okay.

Donghyuck’s kind of getting tired of his roommates acting all cautious around him.

It’s not like he’s depressed or anything. Renjun was just a friend and they’d make up again, right? Or so he had thought.

A month passes and there’s been absolutely no signs of life from Renjun.

Donghyuck’s tried to reach out to him, through text messages, but Renjun has his read receipts off, so Donghyuck doesn't even know whether or not Renjun’s read his messages. Donghyuck had waited for Renjun’s phone call the following Wednesday after their fight, but there was no avail.

He can’t help but feel frustrated. Was Renjun really about to let an entirety of a two year of friendship go down the drain because he was having a bad day and Donghyuck said some ‘dumb’ comment? Of course he would, Renjun’s always the one who’s too prideful to apologise, he’s too stubborn for that.

A reason why Donghyuck likes him. The irony.

The Japan trip was cancelled, the remaining three no longer wanted to go once Renjun backed out. YangYang talked to Donghyuck after, asking why and if he knew anything about it. It surprised Donghyuck, as he would have expected Renjun to tell him, but it turned out he didn’t. Donghyuck explained everything and YangYang listened silently. 

Communication with YangYang never halted, but communication with Chenle is a different story. It doesn’t even make sense to Donghyuck as to why  _ Chenle _ would be upset with him. At least with Renjun he understands, but Chenle? Donghyuck’s starting to think that Chenle’s only looking for a reason to hate him.

YangYang takes over Renjun’s spot in the weekly calls, except it’s on a Friday now and not Wednesday, because YangYang has club activities that day. Donghyuck adores YangYang, but those calls feel different. For some odd reason, Donghyuck isn’t as keen on talking about his troubles to YangYang, which is stupid because he’s known YangYang for far longer than he has known Renjun, and he finds himself talking more about the good things that had happened in the week, which isn’t such a bad change, now to come to think of it. 

Months pass by and Donghyuck begins to slowly get used to the absence of a certain male in his life. 

It still hurts sometimes when he thinks about it, knowing that Renjun stopped talking to him after everything he had said to him. But he’d get over it, one day at least. They live in two completely different cities anyway, it’s not like Donghyuck will see him every second day. It can’t be too hard, right?  
  


* * *

  
“Do you still like Renjun?”

Donghyuck glances at his phone in shock at the sudden question, then he realises that three heads are turned to stare at him and his reaction. He’s really got to start kicking his roommates out before he picks up any calls from YangYang. 

“Er, give me a second,” Donghyuck says into the phone. He then makes an elaborate arm movement and shoos Yukhei, Mark and Kunhang out of the room. All three of them comply, but they walk out the door with such slowness that Donghyuck wants to kick them, maybe it’ll get them to move faster. 

He unmutes himself once the three are out of the room, but he knows that they’re most likely outside with their ears against the door. 

“What was the question?” Donghyuck asks, placing his phone down on the desk again. “Do I still like Renjun?” 

YangYang hums. “Yeah, do you?”

_ Does  _ he still like Renjun? He isn’t sure, to be honest. It’s been a while since he’s last talked to him. He also hasn’t seen him for a good six or seven months by now. It’s hard to say, actually.

“I don’t know?” Donghyuck squeaks. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen or spoken to him in ages.”

YangYang lets out a noise of understanding. “Alright. Mid-year breaks are coming soon, right?”  
  
Donghyuck narrows his eyes. “What are you planning?” he asks cautiously. “I don’t trust you one bit.”

“I’m not planning anything,” YangYang exclaims. “Can you believe mid-year break is in like two weeks? How has the first half of second year been? I’m surprised you’re still alive.”   
Donghyuck doesn’t reply and instead stares at his phone. 

“Okay, okay!” YangYang’s voice echoes through. “I was wondering if you’d like to go on a camping trip with me?”

Donghyuck purses his lips. “Are we going to do something together every mid-year break?”

“It makes sense.” Donghyuck can practically hear YangYang shrug. “You spend mid-year breaks with me, and you spend end of year breaks with your roommates. Sounds fair, doesn’t it?”

He thinks about it for a second. “I mean, sure?” He looks over at the small calendar sitting in the corner of his desk. “You’re gonna come here then, right?”

YangYang makes a noise of disapproval. “Ah, not really. I was gonna ask if you wanted to come on a camping trip with me.” A pause. “And Chenle. And Renjun. And another person.”

Donghyuck almost jumps out of his seat. “Renjun? A camping trip? I haven’t spoken to him in  _ months _ and you want me to go on a camping trip with him?!”

YangYang sighs through the phone. “I knew you were gonna say that,” he says. “That’s why I came prepared.”

“Prepared for what?”

“Look,” YangYang starts. “I’ve already asked Renjun beforehand. He says it’s fine if I invite you along—”

“You didn’t ask  _ me _ beforehand,” Donghyuck cuts him off.

YangYang ignores him. “And I already told him you were coming. So…?’

Donghyuck bites his bottom lip. “Look, I’ll have to think about it. I haven’t seen Renjun in ages and _ — _ ”

“This is the perfect time to mend your relationship!” YangYang interjects. “C’mon, no offence but the two of you have to move past this. He’s one hundred percent ready to pretend that conversation you two had that night never existed and pick up from where you two left off, so just trust me, okay?”

Donghyuck sharply exhales. “Fine,” he mumbles. “Who’s the other guy? You mentioned another person?”

“His name is Dejun!” YangYang says, maybe a bit too enthusiastically. “He sits in front of Renjun in his lectures and they became friends after Renjun asked him for help for an assignment. And he’s met Chenle and I before, so he’s chill with us. He’s super excited to meet you.”

Donghyuck scratches his forearm. Renjun’s friend? The guy who sits in front of him during lectures? Donghyuck remembers Renjun mentioning some guy sitting in front of him and getting full marks or something on their final assignment. No way it’s the same guy, right?

“Alright, you can text me the details soon,” Donghyuck sighs. “But do you promise it’s not gonna be weird between Renjun and I? Are you sure he wants to see me again?” 

He hears a door open (or maybe close?) on YangYang’s end. “Yes,” the younger one says. “I promise. He wanted to ask you to come actually, but he chickened out so I’m here.”   
Donghyuck raises an eyebrow. He doesn’t believe him.

YangYang must have sensed the hesitation, because he calls for Renjun the next second. 

“What are you doing?” Donghyuck hisses into the phone.

“Just trust me,” YangYang hisses back, before ultimately passing the phone to another person.

A familiar voice is heard from the phone. “Hello?”

He almost drops his phone in surprise. Donghyuck will do anything in his power to be able to go over to Taipei right now and smack YangYang upside down on the head. 

“Hi,” he says, after recomposing himself. “Renjun, how are you?”

If Renjun was as surprised as Donghyuck, nothing in his voice showed it. “I’m good, thanks. Listen, I know the two of us had a bump down the road but YangYang  _ really  _ wants you to come on this camping trip. All that happened last year anyway, I’ve kinda moved on from it. I hope the fact that I’ll be there won’t change your mind about going. I kinda wanna catch up as well. It’ll be nice to see you again.”

Donghyuck’s mouth goes dry. That was too many words that came out of the phone with Renjun’s voice for him to process. “Ah, I see,” he stammers. “I— Sure, I’ll go.”

Renjun chuckles on the other line. 

Oh, Donghyuck realises. He’s missed that soft tone of laughter.

“I’ll see you then,” Renjun says. “I’m giving the phone back to YangYang now.”

All Donghyuck can do is make a sound of approval as the phone gets returned to YangYang.

“See, you guys are fine,” YangYang comments once the phone is back in his hands. “So, what do you say? Will we see you in two weeks?”  
  
Donghyuck holds his forehead in his hand. “Yeah, alright,” he decides. “I’ll see you guys then.”

YangYang does a small cheer on the other end. “I knew you’d come around to it! I’ve got to go now, I’ll text you the details in a week. Bye!”

He hangs up before Donghyuck could bid him goodbye.

It then hits him; if Renjun had already moved on from the incident, why wouldn’t he reach out to him? There’s no way he has  _ that _ much pride, Donghyuck knows that. So why?  
  


* * *

  
Dejun, full name: Xiao Dejun, is overall a nice and friendly guy. After meeting him, Donghyuck understands why Renjun and YangYang decided to weave him into their friend group. He gives off a really welcoming vibe, which Donghyuck appreciates after being separated from his friends for six months, in which two he hasn’t spoken to at all in that period of time. 

At one point during the ride to the campsite, it honestly seemed like Dejun was the only one willing to talk to him, which definitely did not help his slight anxiety regarding the whole situation with Renjun (With Chenle, he could care less about).

“Ah,” Dejun says out of the blue, clicking his fingers. All four of them turn to look at him. “Let’s play truth or dare.”

Chenle scoffs. “What are you? Five?”

Dejun digs around in his bag and brings out a glass bottle. “C’mon, it’ll be a great way to catch up with everyone! I wanna know more about Chenle and Donghyuck, it’ll be fun, I promise.”

Donghyuck pokes a hole in the soil with a stick he had found earlier. He has a feeling this won’t end well. 

“There’s only the five of us,” Renjun mumbles from beside Donghyuck. He lifts his head up and raises an eyebrow. Renjun smiles back at him. “There’s not much variety here,” he says to Dejun in a teasing tone.

“Oh, Renjun,” Dejun mocks, spinning the glass bottle in the middle of the circle. “Whatever shall we do?” he singsongs. 

They all watch as the glass bottle spins a few times, before ultimately landing on Donghyuck.

All heads turn to him. 

“Alright,” YangYang cheers, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s get down to business.”

Donghyuck doesn’t like the sound of YangYang’s tone of voice as of right now. He’s planning something, and when YangYang’s planning something, nothing will ever turn out good. On Donghyuck’s end, at least. 

“I’ll pick truth,” Donghyuck says slowly. He doesn’t want to know what YangYang would tell him to do if he chose dare.

“Perfect,” YangYang grins, wiggling on the log. “Is there someone you like right now?”

Donghyuck stares agape at him and repeats the same question Chenle had asked Dejun before. “What are you? Five?”

YangYang cackles. “It’s truth or dare, you have to answer it.”

Donghyuck scratches the back of his neck and he sees Dejun send a pitying look towards him.

“Um, I think so? I’m not too sure. I haven’t really thought much about it.” He picks up the stick and draws a smiley face into the ground. “You know how I am, YangYang. I don’t develop crushes that easily.”

YangYang furrows his eyebrows. “Wait, you said you think so. So do you? Or do you not? I need a solid answer, Donghyuck. Please.”

Donghyuck bites his tongue. “Okay, fine. Yes, yes I do like someone right now.”

He glances beside him, in the hopes of meeting Renjun’s eyes, but the latter doesn’t look at him. Instead, his gaze is trained on the bottle, which YangYang has taken initiative to spin again.

“Isn’t it my turn to spin?” Donghyuck asks.

“It’s my bottle,” YangYang shrugs. 

“It’s actually mine,” Dejun mutters. His comment goes unheard. 

Lord and behold, it lands on Dejun. “Truth,” he says, almost immediately. He looks up at Donghyuck, waiting for a question with wide eyes.

Donghyuck’s mind goes blank. There’s nothing he wants to ask Dejun specifically. None that wouldn't seem like an invasion of privacy, at least. He realises that he’s been thinking a bit too long, so he internally yells at himself and repeats the same question YangYang had asked him.

“Do you like anyone right now?”

Dejun brings his hand up to his mouth and raises an eyebrow. “Do I?” He smiles a bit as he ducks his head down. “Yeah, I like someone right now.”

The crowd oohs and aahs and YangYang throws a handful of leaves at Dejun. “Who is it?!” he demands.

“I’m not telling,” Dejun teases as he spins the bottle. 

Spin, spin, spin. It goes ‘round the group and lands on a pair of white Keds.

Renjun.

“Renjun,” Dejun says, stretching out the name. “Let’s see.” He pretends to think. “Do you like anyone? And is he here right now?” 

The additional question makes Donghyuck’s heart drop.

Renjun doesn’t meet anybody’s eyes for a few seconds, most likely thinking about how to answer the question. 

Renjun looks over to him, and Donghyuck feels his heart beat against his ribcage. A simple glance and that was all it took for Donghyuck to feel lightheaded. There’s no way, is there? Renjun hasn’t spoken to him at all in six months, but feelings don’t go away so easily, do they?

Renjun averts his gaze to Dejun and smiles shyly. “I—”

Chenle stands up from the log. “Oh my god, you guys are so  _ boring _ !” he cries. “Who do you like, who do you like?” he mocks in a high-pitched voice. “I don’t care about that! YangYang!” He points a finger at the elder. “Climb up that tree behind you!”

YangYang freezes up. “What— “

“Do it, you fool,” Chenle pushes further. “Who wants to join him?”

Donghyuck frowns. Definitely not him.

“Donghyuck!” Chenle barks. “Join him.”

“I can’t climb trees,” Donghyuck says as YangYang pulls on his arm. “YangYang, why are you doing this to me?”

“If Chenle tells me to do something I have to, I’m scared of him.”

Donghyuck gives YangYang a judgemental look. “You’re not climbing a tree,” he states firmly. 

“Do a backflip!” Chenle calls out behind them.

Donghyuck whips his head back to see Chenle holding up his phone, pointing it at YangYang. Behind him are Renjun and Dejun, talking in hushed whispers. Donghyuck wants to ask Renjun what his answer would’ve been if he didn’t get interrupted by Chenle, but it’s too late now and it’d be weird if he demanded an answer that may have nothing to do with him.

So he decides to let it go.   
  


* * *

  
“Hey.”

Donghyuck jumps in his seat. He looks back and sees a figure peeking out from behind a tree. It’s too dark for him to see anything that’s not within five metres of him, but through the glow of the moon and familiarity of the voice, Donghyuck knows it’s Renjun.

He pats the empty spot beside him. “Come sit down,” he calls out to him.

Renjun hesitantly steps out from the shadows and sits down besides him. “You disappeared for a while,” he says. “I—  _ we _ — got worried.”

Donghyuck nods as he licks his lips. “I told YangYang I’d wander around a bit, he might have forgotten to tell you guys.” He looks down at his hands. Renjun came looking for him,  _ Renjun _ . That must mean something, right? No one else bothered and he even said he was worried. 

“Renjun—”

“Look—”

They both stop mid-sentence and upon seeing Renjun’s expression turn from neutral to worry, Donghyuck allows him to speak first.

Renjun clears his throat. “I just wanted to apologise. For everything, I suppose.” He plays with the hems of his jacket, not meeting Donghyuck’s eyes. “It was a bit unfair how I didn’t contact you during those six months, when you tried to.” He looks up at the stars with a sad smile on his face. “I’m sorry, Donghyuck.” 

Donghyuck wants Renjun to look at him, and not avoid his gaze. So he takes Renjun’s hand, hoping that it’ll focus his attention onto him, but Renjun retracts it quickly. 

Donghyuck’s face falls, but then remembers how Renjun isn’t that fond of skinship. Perhaps these six months strained their relationship a bit. There’s no way they can go back to exactly where they left off. Donghyuck understands, but it still hurts a bit.

“It’s okay,” he says in the end. “I understand. I hurt your feelings and you had every right to be mad at me. You’ve moved on from it, so I will too.” He smiles shyly at the boy besides him. “It’s okay. I forgive you.”

Renjun’s finally looking at him and Donghyuck fully takes in what he looks like today for the first time. His hair is messy and tousled, but if anything, it makes him look more charming. His cheeks are kissed pink, much like a newly bloomed camellia, and it stands out under the moonlit glow. Donghyuck’s gaze falls down to Renjun’s lips, where they’re slightly parted.

It’s then that it hits him. He hasn’t been able to admit it for the past year, let alone the past six months, but Donghyuck is in love with Renjun. He’s been in love with him ever since he brought him roller-skating after their exams. Ever since Renjun clung onto his hand and refused to do a round unless Donghyuck’s there holding his hand with him. Ever since Renjun continued to intertwine their fingers together, even after they’ve returned the skates. 

Donghyuck isn’t sure if he came to this realisation too late. 

Renjun lets out a quiet hum and Donghyuck immediately moves his gaze upwards, staring straight into Renjun’s eyes. 

“I don’t know if I’ve ever told you,” Donghyuck says, leaning in. “But you hold stars in your eyes.”

Donghyuck remembers. It was the first thought he had of Renjun when he walked into their classroom that Tuesday morning.

_ His eyes held the stars _ , that’s right. 

Renjun turns away from Donghyuck and shyly kicks his feet. “Don’t say that,” he mumbles. “You can’t.”

Donghyuck feels weird all over, but lets the subject drop.”Sorry,” he says as he leans back into his previous position. “Um, have you ever been camping before?” he asks, in hopes that the slightly atmosphere will go away.

Renjun nods. “Yeah, all the time when I was younger. We couldn’t go overseas so my parents would take my siblings and I camping.” He turns to Donghyuck. “How about you?”

Donghyuck’s never been camping before. Unlike Renjun, he’s been able to go overseas ever since he was younger. Name any country and there’s a high chance he may have been before. With dry lips, Donghyuck answers the question.

“It’s my first time.”

Renjun nods. “Yeah, I thought so.” He lets out an airy chuckle. “It’s okay, it’s Chenle and YangYang’s first time too. I had to beg them to go on a camping trip.”

Donghyuck isn’t sure if Renjun is implying something in that sentence. “What about Dejun?”

Renjun waves a dismissive hand. “He wasn’t like them. He was as excited as I was, actually,” he says fondly. 

When Renjun lifted his arm up, the sleeves of his jacket travelled up and Donghyuck took a quick glance up just in time. 

On Renjun’s left wrist is a white string with a single white bead going through it. A bracelet. The bracelet he had made for Renjun when they parted ways for university.

A strange feeling fills Donghyuck’s chest but he isn’t sure what it is. Happiness? Sadness? Jealousy? Excitement? None of those words seem to fit whatever he’s feeling right now, though.

Renjun must have noticed that Donghyuck’s staring at his wrist, so he quickly pulls the jacket sleeve down again, looking away nervously. Why is he hiding the bracelet? There’s no need to.

A faded voice calls for them within the woods. 

“I think that’s Chenle,” Renjun says, standing up. “We should go back.” He extends an arm for Donghyuck to take.

He stares at it for a second, before accepting it and pulling himself up. 

“Yeah,” he mutters, stuffing his hands in his pockets. His eyes are trained on Renjun’s back as he bounces back to the campsite. “Let’s go.”  
  


* * *

  
Donghyuck’s left alone with Dejun after Chenle, YangYang and Renjun went off to do God knows what. They appointed Dejun and Donghyuck to look after their belongings and disappeared just like that. 

Both Dejun and Donghyuck have tried to start conversations, but they have all ended pretty quickly after finding out neither of them have very much common interests. It’s not his fault, neither is it Dejun’s, so they’ve now both resorted to staring at the fire in front of them.

Dejun is sitting on the log and Donghyuck’s standing about a metre away. He’s on his phone while Dejun’s throwing little, dry sticks into the fire to keep it going. 

The fire cackles and small sparks fly out at times, painting the darkened night.

Donghyuck almost doesn’t catch it because it’s so dark, but as Dejun throws another handful of dry leaves into the fire, his hoodie sleeve pulls backwards.

Donghyuck’s heart drops immediately.

On his right wrist is a black string with a single black bead going through it. A bracelet. The second half of the gift Donghyuck had for Renjun… and the person he likes. 

_ “It’s for you and... the person you like. It’s a small gift for getting into uni, I suppose.”  _ He had told Renjun that day on the platform, waiting for his train.

Donghyuck feels out of breath for some reason. “What’s your relationship with Renjun?” he asks with a wobbly voice. Donghyuck gives himself a pat on the back for standing in the shadows, where it’s harder for Dejun to see him. He doesn’t want Dejun to see him in such a state, not when they’re practically strangers.

“Renjun?” Dejun pokes the fire with a longer stick. “I don’t know,” he sighs. “You heard, right?” He looks up in Donghyuck’s direction. “The person I like is here.” He drops his gaze. “But I’m not sure if he feels the same way. I told him a while back, but he asked for a bit more time. So I’m not sure if I should just give up.”

Donghyuck feels numb. “That bracelet you’re wearing, did he give that to you?”

Dejun looks down at his wrist. “Yeah,” he says with a fond smile, as if he’s thinking of a happy memory. “He gave it to me some time back. He said we have to make a wish together and when the bracelets break, it’ll come true.” He looks back at Donghyuck. “It’s cute, isn’t it?”

Too familiar, that’s a story too familiar to Donghyuck. That was what he had recited to Renjun when he gave him those bracelets. He feels as if someone had just poured a bucket of iced water over his head and left him out in the snow to dry. 

He swallows the lump forming in his throat. “Yeah, that’s very cute,” he says. He doesn’t want to say anything more, he doesn’t even think he  _ can _ without crying.

It’s ironic, how the moment he realised he was in love with his friend, he had his eye on another. How empty is the world when you lose someone you love.

“What about you?” Dejun asks, breaking the silence. “You were really close to Renjun, or so I’ve heard. What’s your relationship like?”

Donghyuck stares at the fire, prying him away from Dejun’s gaze. 

“Renjun’s a precious friend of mine,” he mutters, making sure it’s loud enough for Dejun to hear. The cackling of the fire distracts him for a second. “In the beginning, I used to think he was a try-hard, a teacher’s pet. Someone who’s constantly getting good grades because they have nothing better to do in their life.

“But then I realised that he’s actually just a very hardworking and kind person. He wants to help others to the best of his abilities, even if it means he has to stay back after school to help someone who doesn’t understand basic maths when he could have just left any time.

“Honestly, I’ve never really liked anyone in a romantic way. I’ve read stories and from what an old friend told me, the only  _ true _ kind of love is ‘love at first sight.’ I used to believe that, but in my last year of highschool, I realised that if you really like someone, you’ll fall slowly. So slowly you might not even notice it.”

Donghyuck decides to take a seat down next to Dejun. The latter shifts over a bit, making room for him. 

He continues. “We went roller skating a few days after our exams. He wouldn’t stop clinging onto me and holding my hand. He fell but I managed to catch him before he could get injured. And when I held him in my arms, I think that was the first time I realised that my heart could beat so fast.

“When the person you like likes someone else, that’s when you realise that your teasing isn’t just to get a reaction from him but it’s also a way to grow a bit closer to him. You’ll keep every word he says in mind, and remember the things he wants and likes.

“I didn’t know that when I’m in love with someone, I’d turn into a coward right in front of them, that I’d have no courage to tell him.”

Donghyuck glances over to Dejun.  
  
“Sometimes, he’ll pretend he’s okay even when it’s obvious he feels uncomfortable. He likes using lots of colours for his notes, and tears the page out and rewrites it all if it’s messy. He overworks himself a lot, always staying up really late to study or finish assignments. You’re gonna have to take care of him, okay? Don’t let him study until he passes out on his computer.

“He’s cranky when he gets woken up too early in the morning and spends money carelessly. He doesn’t do well with horror and yet he loves reading Stephen King’s books. He really likes the colour purple and would like to dye his hair that colour one day, even though I told him he’d look stupid.

“He…”

Why Renjun didn’t contact him after he had moved on from the fight, why he told Donghyuck to stop teasing him earlier, why he had purposely tried to hide the white bracelet, it all made sense now. Donghyuck can’t believe he didn’t see the signs beforehand.

He had got it all wrong. He, him, them, love— especially love— so completely wrong.

He turns to Dejun with a sad smile and bites back his tears as he says the next few words. “And he really likes you.”

Dejun has an unreadable expression on his face, and so Donghyuck continues. “Trust me,” he says. “Don’t give up on chasing him, if anything, you should keep reminding him that you’re after him. Because I’m sure that one day, you’ll win him over.”

Donghyuck looks at the bracelet and Dejun follows his line of sight.

“I’ve known him for a long time, and that bracelet tells me that he returns your feelings. So go for it, Dejun. Don’t doubt yourself.”

It’s painful to say those words out loud, it’s like a smack to Donghyuck’s face. That he was too slow, that he was not enough. But as the trio approach them with arms full of dry sticks and Donghyuck sees the bright smile that paints across Renjun’s face when he sees Dejun, he realises that even though it hurts, he’s happy for Renjun.

And when Dejun returns the smile with what seems like a smile reserved for Renjun only, Donghyuck suddenly finds himself rooting for the two.

Even though his heart yearns for another who isn’t— and will never be— his, he wants them to be together. 

Because he’s sure Renjun is happier that way.   
  


* * *

  
The stars are shining bright tonight.

“Dejun, huh?” Donghyuck muses to Renjun, taking a seat down in the empty space beside him. Renjun visibly tenses up and Donghyuck isn’t sure whether it’s directed to his actions or to his choice of words. Renjun purses his lips. “Yeah,” he finally says. “Dejun.” He brings his knees up to his chin and turns away from Donghyuck.

Even though Renjun won’t see, Donghyuck nods, drumming his fingers against the cold metal platform. “Why are you here?” Donghyuck asks. “Shouldn’t you be back at camp with the others?”

“The stars are pretty tonight,” is all Renjun says. 

They are, illuminating a beautiful glow in the night sky. Donghyuck lets out a short breath and watches the smoke trail up into the sky. “The moon’s prettier,” Donghyuck points out. It’s a full moon tonight, but it’s hidden behind the clouds. 

“I can barely see it,” Renjun says quietly.

Donghyuck shrugs. “I know that the moon is pretty. Being unable to see it doesn’t change anything.”

Renjun lets out a low hum. “You’re not mad?” he asks softly, as if taking the time to choose his words carefully. He’s still not looking at Donghyuck.

Donghyuck holds himself back from wanting to wrap an arm around Renjun’s shoulder to bring him closer to him. “Of course not,” he replies after a second of hesitation. 

Renjun shifts in his seat.

“I’m not,” Donghyuck repeats, firmly this time. “Trust me.” He reaches out for Renjun’s hand, but makes no effort to intertwine their fingers. “I’m not mad.”

Renjun finally looks at him and Donghyuck’s breath hitches in his throat. 

“Was the reason you didn’t contact me Dejun?” Donghyuck blurts out. 

Renjun’s eyes grow wide and he quickly turns away again, but Donghyuck pulls his arm back in time. “Please, Renjun,” he begs. “That’ll be the last thing I ask. I won’t ask about anything else anymore. I promise.”

Renjun sighs as he gently removes his arm from Donghyuck’s grasp. “Yeah,” he mutters quietly, holding his hands together in his lap. “I felt that if I contacted you while I had feelings for Dejun, it wouldn’t be fair on you.”

Donghyuck’s face falls like a house of cards. He had been expecting that answer, but to hear it come straight out of Renjun’s mouth hurt more than he would have imagined it to. “Alright,” he whispers. “Thank you.”

The moon is beautiful tonight, even though it’s hiding shyly behind the clouds. 

“Do you think I would have had a chance?” Donghyuck asks in a timid voice. He isn’t sure if he wants the answer.  
  
“Yeah,” Renjun replies, almost instantly. “You would have.”

Donghyuck’s stomach drops. He stares at Renjun for a moment before breaking out into a sad smile. “Then why didn’t you want to be with me?” he asks softly, with such a gentle tone that it surprised even  _ him _ . “I’ve expressed my feelings towards you so many times… and yet, you never gave me a solid answer.” 

Renjun’s face floods with regret. “It’s because I was selfish,” he confesses after a beat. “People always say that the most wonderful moments in a relationship happen right before it truly begins, but once you’re together, some of the sparks just won’t be there anymore. I guess... I just wanted you to chase me for a bit longer, so I can hold onto those feelings more.”

Donghyuck almost laughs. It’s such a dumb reason but at the same time it’s just  _ so  _ Renjun. Donghyuck didn’t know what to expect, but he’s not too surprised at that answer. It still hurts though, somehow, but he pushes those feelings down and tries his hardest to ignore them.

“But you’re happy with Dejun, right?” he  tentatively asks with a smile that doesn’t seem to reach his eyes no matter how much he tries to fake it.

Renjun stares straight ahead and Donghyuck wants to scream at him to look at him, but he doesn’t. Renjun looks lost for a moment, staring at the stars in the sky. 

“Yeah,” he finally decides, breaking the short silence. “I’m happy with Dejun.”

That’s all Donghyuck needs to hear. 

He doesn’t say anything more and instead watches Renjun’s wavering figure beside him. 

“Do you believe in parallel universes?” he mutters. “A different reality that exists at the same time.” 

Renjun flashes him a knowing smile as he rests his head on his arms, finally facing Donghyuck. He’s glowing under the small beams of moonlight which illuminates the features on his face that Donghyuck loves so much. He’s beautiful. 

“You know I do,” Renjun hums. “So tell me, Lee Donghyuck. What happens in that parallel universe of yours?”

How Donghyuck wishes he could go back in time, back when both their hearts would beat for each other and their doubtful yet longing glances would hold so many words. But he knows that even if he goes back in time, a happy ending may never surface, because their ending has been set in place from the beginning. 

And so, Donghyuck does not wish to go back in time. 

“I regret not taking the time to get to understand you,” he says. “To get to know you better. Because maybe all these misunderstandings would have been avoided if I did.”

There’s something in Renjun’s eyes as Donghyuck finishes his sentence. An emotion that Donghyuck knows too well, because he too, has looked at Renjun like that for the longest time. There’s an emptiness in his chest, and just like that night in the park, under the blanket of stars, he wants to bring Renjun closer to him, to tell him to forget about Dejun. A beat from his heart and he holds himself back. He can’t, and he won’t.

“In that universe, maybe I’d understand you better and we’d be together as a couple… going out on dates, and stuff.”

Renjun stares at him with glossy eyes as he breaks out into a shy smile. “If so, I envy them.”

Donghyuck doesn’t say anything back and instead allows the silence to fall upon the two. From a far away distance, he hears the rustle of a bush. 

Renjun is the first one to break, he purses his lips and stares straight off into the endless night sky. “Thank you for liking me,” he whispers gently. “All these years.”

Something bright runs through the dark sky, something quick and small. It doesn’t take long for Donghyuck to realise it’s a shooting star.

He clasps his hands together and closes his eyes, making a silent wish to the now already long gone shooting star. He hopes that the star has heard it, and will be able to grant his wish in the next universe it travels to.

He then returns his gaze back to Renjun, who’s sitting beside him. “Thank you for letting me like you,” he mumbles softly, a gentle smile adorning his face. 

Renjun returns it for a split second, then it’s gone. “Let’s go back,” he says, patting Donghyuck’s shoulder before standing up. “It’s getting cold.”

Donghyuck casts one last look at the stars shining brightly. “Nah,” he hums. “I think I’ll stay here for a bit longer. Is that okay?”

Renjun raises an eyebrow but doesn’t question him further. “Alright, don’t die out here.”

“It’s tempting,” Donghyuck replies with a small laugh before hearing the sound Renjun’s footsteps fade away. “It’s tempting,” he repeats, this time much more quieter as he looks up at the stars. 

They stare back at him, as if urging him to say something. A wish perhaps? As if the one just then wasn’t enough. Donghyuck glares back at them, almost expecting them to come to life and sweep him away into the night sky. 

He tilts his head up a bit more and squints his eyes, and catches sight of the moon that’s  _ finally  _ visible. “Took you long enough to come out,” he sighs. “You sure do like to take your sweet time, don’t you?”

The soft howling of the wind makes him think the world is laughing at him.

“It’s funny how you show up now,” he mutters to the silver disc hanging in the lonely sky. “Renjun didn’t even get to see you.” He pauses for a second. “I told him you were beautiful today, but he didn’t stay.” A dry chuckle leaves his lips. “That sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?” he muses. 

Silence.

“I’m not wrong, right, for letting him go?” he asks to the empty space around him. “I can’t change myself neither can I change him. It’s fate that has the upper hand on this, not us.”

A gust of wind ruffles his hair. 

“I guess I’m a bit upset. No, I’m really upset. It just hurts, you know?” He zips up his jacket. “It’s kind of unexpected, but at the same time, I kind of knew?”

Another gust of wind washes over him, so he stuffs his hands in his pockets. “But I’m sure I’ll be okay,” he continues with a small smile etching onto his face. “It may take a while, but I’ll be okay.”

He stands up, slowly and carefully. “In the meantime, promise you’ll take care of him, alright?” he says to the moon. “Him and Dejun. Don’t let either of them do something dumb that can ruin their relationship.” A pause. “They’re cute together, aren’t they.”

Another second of silence, then Donghyuck nods. “Thank you,” he whispers. It’s sort of a magical feeling, when the air around him carries his message far, far away. All the way to the stars, all the way to the moon.

Donghyuck glances at the sky one last time, before leaving it behind him, and heads to the small spot in the clearing where the distant yet loud voices are scaring away the wilderness. 

And under the blanket of stars where he had wished for a do-over on that one fateful Wednesday, he hopes that in another universe, fate will be kinder on them, and let him and Renjun have their own happy ending.


End file.
